Major Breakthrough in High Definition Camcorders: Canon, Sharp, Sony, and JVC Agree to Develop HD Camcorder Standard

by News Editor
Published on Jul 9, 2003 12:00 AM



In an unprecedented move, the four largest camcorder manufacturers have joined together to develop and agree on a standard format for recording video in consumer high definition television (HDTV) camcorders. According to a press release by Sharp Japan and Sony Global, Sharp, Sony, Canon and JVC Victor will all work together - this move is a major step towards the development of more HDTV consumer camcorders.

The companies have set a target of having the standard developed and agreed on by September 2003. According to the Sharp press release, the companies will develop standards for both 1080 line resolution interlaced video and 720 line resolution progressive scan video.

The standard will be similar to the current system that is used in the JVC GR-HD1 camcorder and will be called the ''HDV Standard''. However, unlike the GR-HD1 the new standard will suport 1080 lines resolution interlaced. First announced in October of 2002, the JVC GR-HD1 and it's prosumer sister camcorder the JY-HD10 are the first consumer level high definition camcorders, priced in the $3,000 - $4,000 range.

The companies plan to develop a standard which will record the HDTV signal to existing style MiniDV tapes. The standard will use MPEG2 video to squeeze the extra information onto the MiniDV tapes, however the bitrate will be the same.

This co-operation among the five largest camcorder manufacturers is unprecedented. Over the past seven years during the growth of digital video, each manufacturer has developed different tape formats aside from the MiniDV standard. Panasonic has their own method of recording 24 frames per second video as well as recording video to DVDs. Sony has developed more tape formats than any other manufacturer, including a MiniDisc format, the Digital8 format, the MicroMV format, and the company is working on a DVD format camcorder as well.

The companies have listed four key components of the new HDV standard. First, it will have the ability to record and playback a signal on internationally accepted cassette tapes.The second component is that the format will be able to record in 720 line resolution 60 frames progressive, 720 lines resolution 30 frames progressive, 720 line resolution 50 frames progressive, 720 lines resolution 25 frames progressive, 1080 lines resolution 60 frames interlaced and 1080 line resolution 50 frames interlaced. The third component is that it will have improved error correction and lastly, the fourth objective is to improve on the MPEG format by enabling previewing of video when fast forwarding and running the video in slow motion.

The agreement upon a standard for recording HD video is a huge development. Compatibility among different devices for any video standard is a must for it to be adopted widely by the public. Now that the manufacturers have a standard in development, more HD camcorders will likely be coming soon.