Product Tour
One of the most significant upgrades in this year's Everio lineup is the 1/2.3-inch back-illuminated CMOS sensor. As with Sony's 2009 camcorders and many other manufacturers this year, JVC has made the move to back-illuminated CMOS in order to improve low light sensitivity. We haven't gotten the HM1 into our labs yet, but we are interested to see how the new sensor technology fares.
The front is dominated by the new Konica Minolta HD lens, but the control dial and flash are tucked away on the left side.
The right side has the same uncomfortable contour that we disliked on the HM400.
The back is mostly reserved for the battery, but it holds some hidden port compartments and a record start/stop button.
There's a lot hiding inside the left side of the HM1: a 2.8-inch LCD with Laser Touch controls, a USB port, a photo mode button, a Play/Record button, and one-touch controls for uploading, display, export, and disc burning.
The top is home to an excellent zoom rocker and three manual control buttons: Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and a custom User button.
The bottom doesn't hold much except for a battery release switch and tripod mount.
Compression & Media
The HM1 continues JVC's trend of using the AVCHD video format. This is a variation of the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec used by JVC, Panasonic, Sony, and Canon. While AVCHD is the codec of choice these days, it still has its share of issues. AVCHD files are difficult to work with on a slow or old computer, since they're fairly cumbersome.
Like the HM400 last year, the HM1 doesn't have any alternate frame rates like 24p or 30p. It does have three high-speed settings that capture low quality slow-motion video. These three options (120fps, 300fps, and 600fps) stretch your footage out to 1x, 5x, and 10x slower than your original footage.
The GZ-HM1 records primarily to 64GB of internal flash memory. This is an increase from the 32GB of flash memory that was available on last year's GZ-HM400. There is also the option of recording either video or still photos to a removable SD/SDHC memory card. JVC has not announced that its lineup will be SDXC-compatible.
The HM1 is scheduled to ship with another version of Everio Media Browser. We're not yet sure what version of the software this will be or if there will be any significant upgrades. Even if there are no upgrades to the software, this is an excellent program compared to what ships with most camcorders. It has plenty of useful features including clip organization, YouTube upload capability, and DVD disc creation. Mac users, however, will be stuck using iMovie or their own 3rd party software: Everio Media Browser does not work with Macintosh operating systems.
Manual Controls
The HM1 has an Auto mode, just like last year's models. Auto mode essentially hides the entire Manual Controls menu, forcing the user to rely on the camcorder to automatically select white balance, aperture, shutter speed, and exposure for you. Of course, you could also keep the camcorder in Manual mode and let auto controls do all the work. Or you can choose just a single option to control manually and leave the rest to automatic adjustment.
There didn't seem to be any noticeable difference between the HM1's auto controls and last year's HM400. Autofocus worked well, though sometimes it was slow when we moved from close-up shots to wide angle. Face detection, coupled with AE/AF face priority helps ensure that faces within your frame are sharp.
Auto exposure worked great, adjusting quickly to even the most drastic changes in lighting. Though the shift was always quick, it was never too jarring either. As with the HM400, AE/AF face priority and backlight compensation can help you achieve the exposure that you want.
Last but not least, there's white balance. Among all the auto features, white balance was probably the weakest. The various fluorescent lights on the CES show floor were a bit more that the HM1 could handle. Fortunately, the manual white balance seems to result in accurate colors.
Low Light Modes
The GZ-HM1 doesn't have any dedicated low light modes. It does have a few scene modes you can use in low light situations (Twilight and Night), or you can turn the camcorder's auto slow shutter on by setting the AGC to Auto.
Scene Modes
The HM1 has the same scene modes that were present on last year's HM1: Portrait, Landscape, Twilight, Night, Snow, Beach, Sports, Spotlight, Fireworks, and Sunset.
The HM1 has the same impressive zoom rocker that was on last year's HM400. This control gives an unprecedented amount of control over zoom speed for a consumer camcorder. You can also use the Laser Touch strip as a secondary zoom control, but speed is fixed and the control itself is finicky. We suggest you stick to the excellent zoom rocker.
The HM1 offers a 10x optical zoom, 16x dynamic zoom, and digital zoom that can be limited to either 64x or 200x. The 16x digital zoom is an advanced zoom feature that supposedly causes no image degradation. Dynamic zoom is limited to 15x whenever the new Advanced Image Stabilizer is active.
We were very happy to see the return of last year's excellent control dial. This makes it possible for the user to have extremely precise control over manual focus. If you prefer, you can still use the Laser Touch controls to adjust manual focus. But if you prefer the Laser Touch to the dial, you have eccentric tastes indeed. As with last year's HM400, there is a focus assist tool to aid you in performing an accurate manual focus.
Exposure can be controlled manually, with either the Laser Touch controls or dial. To use the dial for adjusting exposure, you have to flip a small switch located on the dial itself. While scrolling with the dial, a bar display appears on the left side of the LCD that shows you how much of an adjustment you've made to the exposure.
If you'd prefer to rely on auto exposure, you can restrict the camcorder to whole screen or spot metering.
Aperture can only be controlled in aperture priority mode, which means you can manually set the aperture while the camcorder automatically adjusts the shutter speed accordingly. Once you've entered Aperture Priority mode, you can use either the dial or the Laser Touch strip to select one of four aperture settings. The widest aperture available is f/2.8.
Shutter speed may be manually selected in Shutter Priority mode. A small 'S' button on the top of the camcorder allows you to select this mode, in which thirteen options are available. Once shutter priority mode is activated, the Laser Touch panel is used to select a shutter speed.
Three white balance presets are available in addition to auto and manual. The manual white balance setting seemed to work fine on the show floor, so hopefully JVC has improved this processing since last year. Unfortunately, the manual white balance is still confusing to operate, as it requires the user to use the Laser Touch strip in an unusual fashion.
There's no direct gain control on the GZ-HM1, but it does offer JVC's usual choice between AGC auto, on, and off. AGC (Auto Gain Control) is simply the automatic gain shift that the camcorder typically engages in dimmer lighting scenarios. Turning AGC off entirely mean that there will be no gain employed at all. Even in moderately low light, footage is very dark with AGC off.
When AGC is set to auto, the camcorder will use as much gain as it thinks is necessary, including activating an auto slow shutter. AGC on will accomplish the same thing, only it will not resort to auto slow shutter. The HM1 does have ISO control, but only for photos in still mode.
The HM1 seems to have the same color and image controls as last year's GZ-HM400:
Still Features
JVC is marketing the GZ-HM1 as an effective video-still hybrid. With native 10-megapixel stills, the camcorder can capture even greater resolution photos than last year's HM400 and X900. These impressive specs are only applicable in the camcorder's dedicated still mode; simultaneous video/still capture results in smaller 16:9 photos only.
To accompany the HM1's impressive still photo resolution, there are a number of features that make this an even more effective camera. There are a number of continuous shooting modes, exposure bracketing, manual ISO control (up to 6400 this year), and a self-timer (2 seconds, 10 seconds, or face detection). There is a built-in flash with a handful of settings: Auto, Red-Eye reduction, and Slow-Synchro.
These are, quite frankly, the most robust set of still camera offerings in any consumer camcorder we've seen. While we've said time and time again that a camcorder is never an adequate substitute fora dedicated still camera, the HM1 may make us eat our words.
Handling & Use
There are no major changes to the interface of the GZ-HM1. Nearly everything has been adopted straight from the HM400's excellent design last year. The menus are less cluttered than other JVC cams, since a number of options have been moved from the menus to the body of the camcorder.
That being said, the usability of the HM1 is only streamlined if you are an experienced camcorder user. Beginners will have a hard time navigating the menus, finding Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority modes, or making manual focus adjustments with the control dial. There aren't really many tool tips to speak of and the instruction manual on last year's HM400 was completely unhelpful.
If you aren't interested in any of these advanced features, the new HM1 probably isn't a good choice. There is an auto mode, but even that can be tricky to find. Last year's excellent HM200 is much easier to use and about half the price. This still leaves you with the finicky Laser Touch for navigating menus, but it isn't too difficult to get used to the system. If you get a chance to try it out and don't like Laser Touch, you can always opt for something like the Samsung HMX-H106, which had good performance and was very easy to use.
While we're pretty happy to see that JVC didn't change much in upgrading the HM400 to the HM1, we could certainly have done with a redesign of the right side. There are several contours beneath the hand strap that don't make for a comfortable hand hold.
It also has the same sub-par hand strap that disappointed us on the HM400. The strap is certainly wide and offers plenty of support, but it lacks the soft, comfortable lining that you find on many high-end camcorders from other manufacturers. And there's that same nagging problem with finger placement: depending on the size of your hand, your pinky is likely to rub against the top-mounted microphone.
What we love about the HM1 is the excellent control dial, which you can use for focus or exposure. It's very similar to the dial found on last year's Sony and Canon camcorders, as well as this year's high-end Samsung models. The action on the JVC dial is excellent and it's very easy to swap functions between exposure and focus. There's also the familiar User button that can be set to scene select, backlight compensation, photometry area, white balance, focus assist, high speed recording, shutter mode, and continuous shooting speed.
One significant improvement in handling this year is the updated Advanced Image Stabilizer. It was designed to pair with the camcorder's optical image stabilization in order to reduce shake caused by walking. This new system is really targeting zoom ratios between full wide angle and 5x. We don't expect to see much change in the stabilization system between 5x and 10x zoom. Fortunately, the HM400 did very well in our stabilization test last year, so not much improvement is required in this area.
The HM1 is roughly the same shape, size, and weight as last year's HM400. The weight is distributed evenly through the body of the camcorder to make it very easy to hold steady. With 64GB of internal flash memory, you can carry the HM1 around for a while without weighing your bag down too much.
JVC has not yet published full specs for the HM1, but we expect to find the same weight and size dimensions as the HM400 (shown below).
The GZ-HM1 has the same battery compartment design as last year's HM400 and, in fact, is scheduled to ship with the same BN-VF908U battery. The compartment is open in the back, so you can theoretically purchase larger batteries for a longer battery life. The BN-VF908U that ships with the HM1 should have excellent battery life, as it was one of our better performers last year. (This assumes that the HM1 is as efficient in energy usage as the HM400 was last year.)
The HM1 has the same 2.8-inch LCD with a 207,000 pixel resolution that was featured on last year's HM400. The 0.10-inch increase over traditional camcorder LCDs is commendable, but it's also disappointing. Most manufacturers have put much larger LCDs on their flagship models this year. Sony, Canon, and Samsung all have 3.5-inch screens with about five times the resolution of the HM1's LCD.
Sure, JVC's Laser Touch requires less real estate than a touch screen... but we use the LCD for viewing footage, lining up shots, and determining manual focus levels. That makes LCD size a clear cut case of bigger is better.
Once again, JVC has opted to do without an electronic viewfinder. With Canon adding a viewfinder to its HF S21 this year, that leaves JVC as one of the only major manufacturers to not include this feature. Canon, Panasonic, and Sony all have models with viewfinders.
The HM1 has the same single-menu design as last year's HM400. The menu is accessed via a touch-sensitive button on the LCD panel. The trouble with this particular layout is that the camcorder has a number of submenus within the main menu. This setup is similar to the new Sony interface, which shoves every single option into a single long list. Sony, however, has buttons you can use to skip to certain sections within the list. JVC requires you to scroll through the entire list before you arrive at the bottom submenus.
The Manual Setting submenu only appears when the camcorder is in Manual mode. This submenu is a bit less cluttered on the GZ-HM1 than on other JVCs because options for focus, shutter speed, aperture, and exposure are not located here. Those options have their own dedicated buttons on the body of the camcorder. It may be confusing that these four features are not located in the Manual settings submenu, but we don't mind it that much. It means that you can switch between two manual controls without having to sift through the menu system.
Also returning on the GZ-HM41 is the user-assignable button (labeled with a 'U'). This button can be programmed to activate a variety of different controls—and it's up to the user to decide what he/she wants.
Playback & Connectivity
The Everio GZ-HM1 borrows its playback interface from the HM400. Clips are arranged as thumbnails and can be organized by date, group, or event (using the Register Event tool). While the HM1 captures HD videos at a 1080/60i resolution, the camcorder is capable of upconverting the clips to 1080/60p during output via the HDMI connection.
There are no hard VCR buttons on the GZ-HM1. During playback, VCR controls are listed at the bottom of the LCD screen and are engaged by pressing the touch-sensitive buttons beneath them. You can also use the provided remote control to play videos, which is probably a smarter choice.
The camcorder also has the same extensive set of playback options that were available on the HM400. You can divide or trim your clips, rotate still images, create playlists, or add music and fade/wipes to your videos. You can also arrange upload settings for a clip right in the camcorder.
The same set of connections that were available on the HM400 are here once again on the HM1. Most of the ports are located in a single long port cavity. This rubber covering protects a headphone input, component video output, HMDI, and DC power input. Above the battery are two more ports: AV-out and a mini microphone port.
The USB port and SD/SDHC memory card slot are both located inside the LCD cavity. The USB port isn't protected by a cover, although when the LCD panel is closed it does provide shelter for the exposed port. The SD/SDHC card slot springs open with the flick of a small trigger switch located to its right. Both the USB port and the memory card slot require the LCD screen to be open in order to access them.
The accessory shoe is also of the same design as last year's model. A small enclosure is covered by a small sliding door. You must screw in the included adapter in order to have a viable accessory shoe.
Audio & Other Features
One design element we would have liked to see updated for the HM1 is the microphone placement, which is on the front of the camorder right above the lens. The problem with its location is the proximity to your little finger whenever you're holding the camcorder using the right-hand grip. For many people, your finger will scuff the mic, causing an unpleasant noisy effect whenever you're recording.
The HM1 has the same audio features that were included on the HM400. There is an audio level display that can be turned on and off and microphone level adjustment from -2 to +2. This isn't as good as full audio level adjustment (like you get on the Canon and Panasonic models), but it is better than just offering a high/low setting for the microphone. Other audio features include a traditional wind cut option and headphone volume adjustment from 0-15.
High Speed Recording
The HM1 offers the same high-speed recording options that were available on the HM400. We described these options in detail (with sample videos) in our HM400 review. The table below outlines the three options:
Time Lapse Recording
This is a new feature to JVC this year. If you want to make your own version of Planet Earth, set up your HM1 to capture the changing of leaves or the shifting of sand on a beach. Time lapse will record a short clip at 1-, 2-, 5-, 10-, 20-, 40-, and 80-second intervals.
Register Event
This option has long been a staple of the JVC lineup. Use it to add a tag to your clip for better organization during playback. Options include: Vacation, Holiday, Sports, Anniversary, Congratulations, Baby, Son, Daughter, Birthday, and Graduation.
Digital Effects
There is a modest set of digital effects available: Sepia, Monotone, Classic Film, and Strobe.
Conclusion
Photo Gallery
Specs
{{manufacturer_specs_table}}{{raw_scores_table}}
Meet the tester
Vice President of Editorial Management, Kaitlyn oversees the editorial departments of Reviewed.com’s various sites. She has been writing about technology since the turn of the century. Outside of her Reviewed.com home, Kaitlyn is also a theatre director and avid gamer.
Checking our work.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
Shoot us an email