JVC Introduces Four Hard Drive-Based Everio Camcorders

June 14 (New York) - “The Everio evolution continues,” announced Dave Owen, General Product Manager Consumer Video for JVC at a press event in their new "JVC Studio" pop-up store near Times Square. With that declaration, JVC once again broke new ground today in camcorder technology with the introduction of a 30GB Hard Drive-based Everio camcorder. JVC is the first major manufacturer to release a hard drive-based camcorder. At the press conference, the company announced four new models, including the GZ-MG20, GZ-MG30, GZ-MG40, and GZ-MG50.

The new camcorders record video to internal hard drives. The GZ-MG20 and GZ-MG40 have a 20GB internal hard drive while the GZ-MG30 and GZ-MG50 have 30GB internal hard drives. The camcorders include 1.8" hard drives, manufactured by Hitachi. Because of the hard drive mechanism the camcorders are very small and lightweight (14 oz.).

The best step in technology with the new Everios is the fact that consumers will not need to purchase a large number of removable media such as MiniDV tapes or DVD discs to operate their camcorder. Because the camcorder can hold a large amount of video, JVC pitches that these new Everios will make it possible for consumers to go on an entire trip without any extra media. This presents an attractive proposition to consumers who spend a considerable amount of money on disposable media; however, JVC admited that they may face some resistance from retailers who are used to a large profit margin on tapes and DVD media.

The new Everios include four recording modes. The recording times of each mode are as follows:

As the Microdrive-based Everios did, the new Hard Drive-based Everios record video in MPEG2 format. While MPEG2 provides a lot of quality compression, and is the standard used in DVD camcorders, the structure makes it difficult to edit MPEG2 video without doing heavy conversion to another format.

The GZ-MC20 and the GZ-MC30 include 25x optical zooms, while the GZ-MC40 and GZ-MC50 include 15x optical zooms. The CCDs on the GZ-MC20 and GZ-MC30 are 680K pixel resolution chips capable of taking stills at a resolution of 1152 x 864 pixels. The GZ-MC40 and GZ-MC50 include 1.33 megapixel CCDs capable of taking stills at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels.

These internal Hard Drive-based camcorders are the third generation of JVC's Everio camcorders, which have been around for less than a year. The first two models recorded onto a removable Microdrive. Earlier this year JVC introduced a higher-end 3 CCD Everio camcorder. These internal Hard Drive-based camcorders increase the storage capacity greatly, as the earlier JVC Everio models included 4 GB Microdrives. However, unlike the earlier Everios, the media in today's newly announced camcorders is not removable. While the models do include an SD card slot, providing some removable and expandable storage, the internal hard drives are fixed.

JVC has perhaps left itself open to questions of ethicality with the inclusion of the letters "HDD" on its lens barrel. While camcorder insiders might already know that HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive, it seems likely that some consumers will be confused into thinking that the new Everios include HD, "High Definition" technology. The acronym HD has become common enough to enter the consumer's lexicon.

Throughout their entire presentation JVC was comparing the Everio to DVD-based camcorders, clearly the product category that they view as their main competitor. According to JVC, the 30GB Everio models can hold as much video as 22 DVD discs, and the quality is just as good. JVC even placed their model next to a Sony DCR-DVD201 in a side-by-side video quality comparison.

In what could be a major step forward for the Everio line, JVC teased news that they will be partnering with a third party manufacturer to produce a stand-alone DVD burner unit compatible with the Everio camcorder for copying the video footage.  This would largely address the problem of where to archive video shot on the Everio. JVC executives said that they expected such a product to come out in the fall and retail around $330.

One of the major improvements which JVC made on their new 2005 MiniDV camcorder models was the inclusion of a data battery feature, which allowed the Lithium Ion batteries to communicate how much time was remaining to the camcorder. JVC is using the same type of batteries on the new Everio camcorders. In addition, they have developed a display feature which shows the amount of recording time available in the four different recording modes.

Similar to technology which is included on Apple iPods, JVC has included anti-drop technology on the new Everios to protect the camcorder's hard drive discs in the event that the model is dropped. Vertical motion sensors will automatically turn off the camcorder if it detects rapid downward movement. JVC has given users the option to turn this feature off, though it is critical to ensure that no data is lost when the camcorder is dropped.

JVC is also promoting quality low light performance in the new models. All four models include JVC's 3D Noise Reduction technology which reduces noise in low light shooting environments. In addition, the GZ-MG20 and GZ-MG30 include 1.8 F lenses which, according to JVC, allow 2.3 times better low light performance than F 1.2 lenses which are commonly found on other camcorders.

Addressing a problem with the first line of Everios, JVC has added support for Apple Mac computers by including special Mac software for connecting the camcorder. As the company did with the first Everio they are also including DVD authoring software for the PC with all four models.

Each model includes a 2.5 inch LCD screen, a USB 2.0 jack for connecting the camcorder to a computer for transferring video, an S-Video jack, and a composite RCA video out jack.  The camcorders include manual control of white balance, shutter speed, aperture, focus and some gain control.

The GZ-MC20 will cost $800, while the GZ-MC30 and GZ-MC40 will cost $900, and the GZ-MC50 will cost $1,000. All four camcorders will be available in August.