JVC Announces CU-VD20 PC-less DVD Burner for Everios in Japanby John NeelyPublished on Jan 26, 2007 2:00 PM 
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January 26, 2007 - Earlier this week, the Victor Company of Japan (JVC's Japanese division) announced their launch of the new Everio camcorder line and Share Station DVD burning station. All products mirror those of the US announcement at CES in most regards, though they will add two 40GB units not available in the US, the GZ-MG575 and the GZ-MG255.
Like the CU-VD10 Share Station of 2006, the new model allows Everio camcorder users to burn footage stored in the camcorder’s onboard HDD to full-sized 12cm DVDs at the touch of a button. The CU-VD20U can also be used as a DVD drive and burner when connected to a PC via a USB 2.0 or 1.1 terminal. Although the new Share Station was displayed at JVC’s CES booth earlier this month, the unit was not named by the company in their press information.
The 2007 Share Station supports the DVD-R DL in addition to DVD-R and DVD-RW discs. DVD-R DL is a dual layer format that can store up to 9.4GB, or twice as much data as 4.7GB single layer single-sided 12cm disc. In addition to support for the new DVD format, the CU-VD20 will ship with the latest CyberLink software: PowerCinema NE for Everio, CyberLink PowerProducer 3 NE, and CyberLink Power2Go 5.5Lite. The new Share Station includes a space-saving vertical stand allowing users to stand the unit vertically in a space-starved workspace.
The CU-VD20 is compatible with JVC’s, GZ-MG555, GZ-MG255, GZ-MG155, GZ-MG505, GZ-MG77, GZ-MG67 and GZ-MG47 camcorders, but the burner will not be compatible with the upcoming high definition GZ-HD7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1529) Everio. A new HD-compatible Share Station, the CU-VD40, will allow HD7 users functionality comparable to the CU-VD20U when the GZ-HD7 hits the market later this year.
On January 15th, JVC’s Japanese Division announced the CU-VD20, as well as a 2007 Everio line that included two 40GB units not yet available in the States. The GZ-MG575 shares its core specs with the GZ-MG555, but tacks on an additional 10GB of HDD space, and the GZ-MG275 is a 40GB version of the GZ-MG255.
The CU-VD10U retails for about $200 in the US, but pricing for CU-VD20/U in Japan and the US have not been announced.