The star of JVC's Celebrity series is the compact JVC GR-DX307U, which made its debut in June, sporting a large 3-inch LCD. Our critics agree that though its performance was laudable, it wasn't Oscar-worthy.

The upright DX307U is shaped like a Klondike bar, only thicker and not as square, with good ergonomics. The slim lithium-ion battery fits snugly in the right side beneath the hand strap, and the hinged right panel opens to reveal the bottom-loading tape carriage. The DX307U's most prominent feature, a jumbo 3-inch LCD panel located on the left panel, is hinged on top to flip up and rotate back toward the operator. One gripe with the design: When the LCD is in the normal viewing position, it can only fold back away from the user. We're concerned that, because the panel has little give, it might be vulnerable to damage. When in operating position, the panel is nearly level with the lens and electronic viewfinder. The EVF extends about half an inch but doesn't pivot, limiting its utility and making diopter adjustments a bit awkward.

The controls are a snap to operate. Most are just below the viewfinder and easily accessed with your thumb. A four-way jog button performs playback functions and menu navigation. It invokes "Night" (which increases CCD sensitivity in low-light situations), "Light" (which switches on the LED "headlight") and "Backlight" features. The DX307U has a three-LED headlight but no accessory hot shoe, though it does have a mic port. For flexibility, JVC provides multiple zoom controls: a rocker on top (for your index finger) and buttons on the back for your thumb (these also double as volume controls). It doesn't have a manual focus ring, something we would like to see on an $800 camcorder.

When the LCD is open, it reveals controls on the left panel for e-mail clip recording, a video thumbnail index, and other features. AV, USB, and DC ports are on the panel front, and are protected by a plastic cover. The built-in stereo condenser mic is just below the 10X optical zoom lens barrel.

The DX307U's video performance didn't quite live up to its impressive ease of use. Our jury of critics gave it 3s on a five-point scale in most categories. The camcorder also performed adequately but not impressively on low-light tests. It scored 400 lines on our resolution test, average for sub-$1,000 camcorders. Colors were strongly saturated, but whites tended to be slightly overexposed. We also noted a color shift toward the warm side on our Gretag-Macbeth chart shots.

The DX307U can capture 1.33-megapixel still images to either MiniDV tape or Secure Digital media (an 8MB card is included). It scored a decent 500 ISO resolution lines—but a barely acceptable 4.8 percent average pixel-transition ratio. These scores are in keeping with the overall softness of the simulated-daylight still-life capture we took with the camcorder. That image was also poorly exposed, dark, and muddy, with some artifacts.

Ultimately, the JVC GR-DX307U offers an ergonomically pleasing compact design, a large LCD, and easy and flexible operation, but only decent video quality and problematic stills.

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