The camcorder is capable of three recording modes. Super VHS recording offers 60 percent better resolution than regular VHS. SVHS ET allows you to record with that same high-resolution using any VHS-C tape. For full compatibility with any VHS video player you can record in standard VHS mode. VHS-C format tapes are simply smaller-sized VHS tapes. You can play your VHS-C tapes in any VCR with the included cassette adapter.

The SXM730U also features an integrated digital still camera that takes snapshots and stores them on the internal 2 MB of flash memory. You have different snapshot modes like full screen, pin-up, or multipicture. You can take up to 60 photos at the standard resolution with VGA size 640 x 480 pixels. With the included software and cable you can import your photos into a computer for editing or e-mailing.

For editing, the GR-SXM730U offers digital wipes and fades, audio dubbing, and insert editing as well as a black fader, and has a quick review and retake function. There are 88 different combinations you can play with for digital special effects, wipes, and fades. The title generator features eight preset messages in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. The accessories include a shoulder strap, VHS-C cassette playback adapter, battery recharger, remote control, and photo-editing software.

This camcorder has all I wanted and more. In terms of recording modes, it offers S-VHS, S-VHS ET, and VHS. I'm not a photographic expert, but the S-VHS video playback of my tapes was much sharper and clearer than I expected; as far as I am concerned, digital video could not look much better than this and certainly offers no advantages for me to justify the extra expense. I should say that the camcorder is very light and comfortable in my hand no matter how much time I spend recording. As for the LCD screen, it is very nice. The colors, especially depending on the angle from which you are viewing it, often seem too bright, but the picture on the tape itself is perfect. One thing this model does not offer is a color viewfinder, but I don't plan on using the viewfinder much at all anyway. The black and white image on the viewfinder is very good, but using the viewfinder only serves to make you stumble around with your eyes pointed down. With the LCD screen, you can remain a part of the action as you record rather than come off as "some guy with a stupid camcorder" terrorizing your family and friends. The display rotates 270 degrees, as well, so you can record from almost any angle. One important feature of this camcorder is digital stabilization; it's hard to walk around and maintain a steady shot, and this features helps keep the jerky movements to a minimum. When it comes to zooming in, this camera really outdoes most of the competition, offering 400x . While anything at the maximum zoom is naturally going to be pretty grainy, the video quality is excellent until you get close to that maximum. Recording in darkness is also not a problem for this camcorder; besides having its own light source, it also comes with a "Night Alive" feature that increases light sensitivity and allows you to get color video in dark environments.

This is a dual camcorder, serving as a digital camera as well as a video recorder. Certainly, the quality of digital photos is not quite as good as true digital cameras offer, but they look really good to me. With 2 MB of flash memory, it can hold up to 30 digital images at one time. Other cameras offer a higher capacity for digital photos, but this is enough for me. The video capabilites come first in my mind, and the digital picture feature is just icing on the cake. The software that comes with this product is really good (at least for an amateur like myself), and I had no trouble hooking the cable up to my COM 2 port and downloading images.

There are a myriad of other features, many of which I am still just exploring. There are many combinations of screen fades/wipes and special effects. You can film your video as an old, black and white movie, really annoy your friends by stretching the width of the picture and making them look fat, add a strobe effect to jazz up the action, add a fog element for that touch of fantasy, or--my favorite--use video echo to make everything look ghostly and weird. There are more features than I can discuss here in this review.

Returning to simpler matters, I must say that the documentation that comes with this product is excellent. While it does take some time to figure out all of the many things the camcorder can do, there is no problem getting the thing up and recording almost right out of the box. On a final note, I must add that the sound quality is also very good. Since there is no way to use an external microphone with this product, I worried that I would have a hard time hearing people's conversations on tape. This is not a problem. Not only does it pick up the sounds you want to hear, it also picks up a lot of ambient sound as well. All in all, this JVC product offered me everything I really wanted in a camcorder, and I am more than happy with it. Now all I need is something interesting to record.