JVC Announces New Camcorders, Including Ability to Record in HD

by News Editor

Published on Jan 13, 2003 12:00 AM
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JVC has announced their new camcorders for the year two 2003. JVC announced compact, advanced, pocket and prosumer camcorders. They also made the major announcement that they have the ability to record an High Defintion TV (HD) signal of MiniDV tape.

Certainly the biggest news is JVC announcing that they can record a HD signal on to MiniDV tape. We heard rumors of this in September from the CEATEC show in Japan, but this is the first US announcement.

Although they did not announce what model it would be available in or when it would be available the company stated that they could record 480 progressive, and 720 interlaced video to MiniDV tapes saying in the press release ''We are able to record 480i (NTSC) in standard DV compression as well as 480p and 720i (ATSC) in MPEG 2 compression all on a standard Mini DV cassette.''

The company announced their new camcorders for 2003. The compact series contains three camcorders including:

GR-D30 Includes a 680K pixel CCD, 2.5 in. LCD, NightAlive 0 LUX night shooting functionality, and a 16x optical / 700x digital zoom. The GR-D30 will be available in January 2003 for $499.95.

GR-D70 Includes all the features of the GR-D30 but also adds photo editing software, analog input, USB connectivity and an SD/MMC slot. The GR-D70 will be available in February 2003 for $599.95.

GR-D90 Includes all the feature of the GR-D70 but it has a 3.5 in. LCD, and also includes an 8 MB SD card. The GR-D90 will be available in February of 2003 for $699.95.

The advanced series uses a 1/4 in. 1.33 Mega Pixel CCD, producing the company claims 540 lines of horizontal resolution. The camcorders can record up to 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution stills. They can also record video to SD or MMC cards in MPEG-4 format, include an accessory shoe, include a 10x optical, 300x digital zoom and a color viewfinder. The advanced series is available in two models. The first, the GR-DV500 includes all of the above and will be available in March for $799.95, the second model, the GR-DV800 upgrades the LCD from a 2.5 in. to a 3.5 in. and will also be in available in March for $899.95.

JVC also announced four pocket series camcorders, including a 'Micro pocket series' camcorder including the:

GR-DX75 Which includes a 2.5 in. LCD a 680K pixel CCD, a 16x optical, 700x digital zoom and can record digital stills up to 1024 x 768 pixel resolution. The GR-DX75 includes an SD/MMC card slot, analog input and a flash. The GR-DX75 should be available in April for $799.95.

GR-DX95 Includes all of the features of the GR-DX75 but it also includes a 3.0 in. LCD screen and an 8 MB SD card. The GR-DX95 will be available in April for $899.95.

GR-DX300 Upgrades the CCD to a 1/4 in. 1.33 Mega pixel CCD, a 10x optical, 500x digital zoom, and can shoot stills up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. JVC did not give a release date for the GR-DX300 but said it would be available in June.

GR-DVP9 Following previous tiny camcorders, the GR-DVP9 includes a 1.33 Mega Pixel CCD, records 540 lines of resolution as well as 1600 x 1200 stills, includes a 2.0 in. LCD and an 8 MB SD card.

The company also mentioned the prosumer GR-DV4000 which includes a 1/4 in. 1.33 Mega Pixel CCD, flash, 3.5 in. LCD, 10x optical, 300x digital zoom, and the ability to record stills up to 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution. The company did not announce pricing or availability on the GR-DV4000.