No Tape, No Disc - New JVC Camcorders Feature Large Capacity, Built-In Hard Disk Drives14 June 2005
JVC today announced a new series of camcorders that eliminates the need to carry tapes, discs or any media at all, yet can record up to seven hours of DVD movie-quality video. They also record more than 10.5 hours at a quality level comparable to a DVD camcorder's 30-minute mode. The new JVC Everio G Series camcorders record to a built-in hard disk drive and will be available in 20 and 30 gigabyte (GB) versions, offering unprecedented camcorder storage capacity.
JVC's initial Everio G offering consists of four models. The popularly-priced GZ-MG20 with 20GB hard disk and the GZ-MG30 with 30GB hard disk provide seven and 10.5 hours respectively of DVD camcorder-quality (30-minute mode) video. Step up versions with a 1.33 Megapixel CCD are the seven-hour 20GB hard disk GZ-MG40 and 10.5-hour 30GB hard disk GZ-MG50. To put the storage capacity in context, it would take 22 DVD camcorder discs (8 cm/1.4GB discs) to hold seven hours of video.
Despite the high capacity storage, Everio G camcorders are small enough and light enough to easily take anywhere. Each is truly palm-sized and weighs less than 14 oz. with the battery attached. Their design is similar to a MiniDV camcorder's, which means that they're comfortable to hold and operate, and include a large, 2.5-inch flip-out LCD monitor for easy recording.
Playback is easy, too, with multiple connections allowing convenient TV playback, dubbing to a VCR or DVD recorder, transfer to a PC or Apple Macintosh for DVD creation, editing, or posting to the Internet, or even burned directly without a PC to a full length movie DVD disc using an optional DVD burner.
The Everio G series GZ-MG50 and GZ-MG30 offer more than seven hours of storage at 9 Mbps, which is close to the maximum bit rate for DVD movie quality recording, or 10.5 hours at 6 Mbps, comparable to DVD Cam recordings. Two more modes are available for even more recording time. The entry level GZ-MG40 and GZ-MG20 offer an impressive 4.5 hours of storage at 9 Mbps, and more than seven hours at 6 Mbps. Either way, the high quality MPEG-2 recordings are in the same format used in DVD so there will be no quality loss when burning them to DVD, and no time- and quality-wasting conversion.
The benefits of recording video to a hard disk are the same benefits that have made hard disk-based audio players so popular -- random access to quickly locate desired material, the ability to effortlessly delete unwanted material, and easily rearrange the playback sequence. What's more, there's no danger of accidentally recording over video a user wishes to keep.
Everio G Series models will be available in August at the following
approximate prices:
GZ-MG20 $800
GZ-MG30 $900
GZ-MG40 $900
GZ-MG50 $1,000
About JVC Company of America
JVC Company of America, headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, is a division of JVC Americas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Victor Company of Japan Ltd., and a holding company for JVC companies located in North and South America. JVC distributes a complete line of video and audio equipment, including high definition displays, camcorders, VCRs, D-VHS recorders, DVD players and recorders, satellite systems, home and portable audio equipment, mobile entertainment products and recording media. For further product information, visit JVC's Web site at http://www.jvc.com or call 800-526-5308.
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Source: JVC Company of America
Source: PR Newswire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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