Poor quality of JVC GY-HD 110U and unprofessional support.

[jay cwener]

Buyers be very careful with JVC. I have purchased a JVC GY-HD 110U from Calumet SA. It did not work with the battery (the battery was fine I checked with a meter). I have called JVC and was told that it needs to be replaced by Calumet ( place I got it from ). I drove from Orange county to San Diego to exchange it for a new one. The second camera had a major problem with the chip, one half of the chip was fine (color ) the other half was extremely blue. I called JVC again and again was told to deal with Calumet. I got the camera for a video shoot but because they did not worked I had to rent one. I was offered no help from JVC. NONE. Couple days later I have discovered on their website something called a "Perfect Experience" program. That subject never came up in any of may conversations with JVC when I was bagging for their help. I would rate their equipment as poor quality and support as very unprofessional.

[Phil Rhodes]

The issue with somewhat variable shading on the two halves of the chip is known, and can reportedly occur as the result of an electronic setup problem. If it's visible in normal circumstances (without a lot of gain applied) then the camera is faulty; it is often somewhat visible if you use a lot of gain and this is considered normal. If it's supplied with this fault I would expect it to be replaced, no questions asked.

 

If you rent equipment from a really top end place like Arri or Panavision, you are in part paying for the assurance that if the camera is faulty and you need it urgently, they'll swap it out for you. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to apply to most of the sales market. I have had a couple of good experiences with PEC in London, who are a dedicated broadcast supplier, so there are good eggs out there. I'm surprised somewhere high profile like Calumet weren't able to get you a loaner, but then the HD100 is just on the borders of the domestic/semi-pro market where this sort of thing can be a bit variable.

 

Phil

[Tim Brown]

You should post on the JVC Pro HD thread at DVinfo.net. There are JVC reps there able to help resolve your problems.

[Brian Drysdale]

Could be the camera fuse blew on the first camera, it seems to happen with the small batteries. The second camera sounds like it needs recalibrating.

 

The JVC reps are regularly on DVinfo and their US people seem to react quickly.