Camcorder News

May 19, 2008 – JVC unveiled a new camcorder today, the Everio GZ-MS100 ($349.99 MSRP), with an increasingly popular new feature – YouTube integration. JVC is certainly not the first to push its product as the ultimate companion to the world’s most popular online video site, but the GZ-MS100 does offer some interesting angles.

First, the GZ-MS100 has an "Upload" shooting mode that limits clips to 10 minutes, the maximum duration for YouTube videos. The camcorder also ships with a CyberLink software bundle that allows for simple upload to YouTube. Other manufacturers have already adopted the latter approach. Far and away the most popular iteration of the "YouTube camcorder" is the Pure Digital Flip. Priced at around $150, this wunderkind of the video world has sent traditional camera company’s scurrying to come up with a response.

The second generation of the Flip, the Flip Ultra, included built-in software that allowed for instant upload to YouTube and other popular sites. It offered the unique freedom of being able to upload from any computer, not just the single machine with the right software. Sony offers similar functionality with the NSC-GC1 "Net-Sharing Cam," but only offers PC support.

By contrast, the JVC Everio GZ-MS100 does require software installation and does not offer the same kind of blatantly simple operation that one finds on the Flip. And it costs $349, considerably more than the Flip on the Net-Sharing Cam. However, it doesn’t appear that JVC is trying to compete on those fronts. Rather, the GZ-MS100 appears to be directed towards those that want a more traditional camcorder design and handling, but still want the guaranteed YouTube compatibility.

The 35x optical zoom far exceeds than Sony’s 4x and the Flip’s complete lack of optical zoom. The Everio GZ-MS100 has a horizontal design, rather than the upright design of the Flip and the Sony NSC-GC1. It's pocket-sized (for a large pocket), and extremely light. The camcorder includes JVC's new 'Laser Touch Operation,' a hybrid touch sensitive strip along the left side of the LCD screen. It works fairly well and doesn't grease up the screen like Sony camcorders.

The camcorder records directly to SD memory cards, which load from the bottom. A 2GB card stores about 29 minutes of video in the highest quality. Video is encoded in a 720 x 480 MPEG-2 format, similar to other standard definition Everio camcorders. In fact, most of the innards of GZ-MS100 are similar to entry-level Everios. It features a 1/6-inch CCD with a gross pixel count of 680,000.

The Everio GZ-MS100 camcorder is due to ship in June at an MSRP of $349.99.

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