Review: JVC GR-D340 digital camcorder

For those constrained by a tight budget, the JVC GR-D340 could well be the answer. It won’t take too much searching around online to find somewhere that’s selling the miniDV camcorder for around the £150 mark, which is getting on for half the price of some of the other models on test.

From the outside you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell that the GR-D340 was at the cheaper end of the price spectrum. The silver metal and grey plastic body is slightly bulky but other than that, JVC’s camera looks remarkably similar to the more expensive Canon MV930.

It’s safe to say that this is a fairly pared-down device. Extended functions such as memory card slots and remote control handsets are nowhere to be seen. The 32x optical zoom is more generous than most, however, and the camcorder is both comfortable to hold and easy to operate. The side effect of having few features is that the GR-D340 is very straightforward to use, and automatic functions such as autofocus are all pretty reliable.

Picture quality wasn’t bad at all, although outdoor daylight footage looked somehow softer than, say, that from the Canon MV930. Indoors, the GR-D340 performed rather well, and didn’t produce any undue graininess when filming under artificial lighting conditions.

We were pleasantly surprised by the GR-D340. It might not come with the added features of some camcorders here but it’s undeniably good value and anyone looking for a basic barebones DV camcorder is unlikely to be disappointed.

This article is part of a group test of budget digital camcorders. Others are:
Canon DC100
Canon MV930
Panasonic NV-GS37
Samsung VP-DC161W
Sony Handycam DCR-HC35
Table of features can be read via our pdf download.