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Consumer Hi-Definition Camcorder from JVC in March!

Y

yamadataro

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 10, 2002
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Tokyo, the most culturally confused city on the pl
For you video production guys out there, I've just seen this exciting news on today's Nikkei newspaper in Japan. Yesterday (22th), JVC has announced that they'll start selling a consumer Hi-definition camcorder GR-HD1 from early March in Japan. North America and European market will follow.

If you want to check out what the DV guru Scott Billups says about the prototype model GY-DV1000u he checked out, go to
http://www.pixelmonger.com/hg_cam.html
The production model looks pretty much like the photo there.

Production unit spec:

- Progressive scan 10M pixels CCD (1/3", 1290 x 880)
- Hi-def recording on a regular MiniDV tapes by MPEG2 encoding which allows these tapes to record as much as the regular DV signal.
- Estimated street price 350,000 yen (=$2,900) or 400,000 with accessory kit (=$3300)
- FireWire 400 and SDI output.

This is so exciting. Who thought consumer HD cam will come this early?! New excting era for digital video coming up?!

I wonder what would I need to import these HD video into FCP? I have a Sony PD150 with me now, but seriously considering a native 16:8 CCD cam right now. This JVC one looks juicy.

The Nikkei article continues to say JVC will make 1000 units per month and 5% of their consumer camcorder sales will be Hi-Def by 2005.
 
Originally posted by LethalWolfe
The only thing that doesn't sound right to me is the MPEG2 encoding. I don't know how that's gonna work.
Click to expand...

It records signals on MiniDV tape, but doesn't record in any convensional DV format. That's what it is.

It came from the super-major financial newspaper in Japan (like WSJin the US). And this MPEG2 thing is what they say. You'd better believe it :D
 
Originally posted by yamadataro


It records signals on MiniDV tape, but doesn't record in any convensional DV format. That's what it is.

It came from the super-major financial newspaper in Japan (like WSJin the US). And this MPEG2 thing is what they say. You'd better believe it :D
Click to expand...

But the MPEG2 format (what's used for DVDs) is very a compressed format ('bout 1/4 the bit rate of DV for example). It's fine for a finished product, but no one would use MPEG2 video as source material. That's the part that is confusing me.

I've found other links for it and a copy of the press release so I'm not doubting the MPEG2 (well, maybe it was a typo ;)), but I'm just not clear as to how it's all gonna work.

I guess I'll just have to wait for more info to be released 'bout it.


Lethal
 
Originally posted by LethalWolfe

But the MPEG2 format (what's used for DVDs) is very a compressed format ('bout 1/4 the bit rate of DV for example). It's fine for a finished product, but no one would use MPEG2 video as source material. That's the part that is confusing me.
Click to expand...

Ah, that I understand. You make me think. I guess it's HD but not so professional? Billups says the lens are not good. And it doesn't do 24P. So I see there are a lotta compromises there.

But hey! It's still a Hi-def :D
 
Originally posted by yamadataro


Ah, that I understand. You make me think. I guess it's HD but not so professional? Billups says the lens are not good. And it doesn't do 24P. So I see there are a lotta compromises there.

But hey! It's still a Hi-def :D
Click to expand...

Okay, I joined in a discussion on another forum and got the answer i was looking for:

In this case it is MPEG2 encoded at HD resolution. That is nothing new. In fact JVC's DVHS players have been out for a couple years now and record/play HD resolution (all the way up to 1080i and 1080p) using an MPEG2 stream at data rates up to 28Mbps. I would be surprised if this is not the same data stream the new camera is using (they even have charts showing the workflow from the camera to PC to DVHS, which points in that direction).

At 28Mbps, that data stream is very close to the 25Mbps data rate of MiniDV. While the compression is high for HD, it is higher than the 19Mbps that broadcast HD offers, which is an indicator of what it is capable of (since broadcast HD still looks very good). We are likely dealing with much more perceptual and chromatic compression than the DV scheme uses, but we retain a higher spatial resolution. Also, HD will compress a bit better than DV because it is progressive (interlaced scanning is a major hurdle to compression technologies).


Lethal
 
What about ease of editing? Isn't MPEG2 a beyaatch to edit?

HiDef alone won't be enought we need the same editing features we currently have. Don't we?
 
Originally posted by nuckinfutz
What about ease of editing? Isn't MPEG2 a beyaatch to edit?

HiDef alone won't be enought we need the same editing features we currently have. Don't we?
Click to expand...

I'd assume that editing software would take the needed steps to be ready. Also, I can't see JVC making a consumer camera that consumers couldn't use to edit on their computers with.


Lethal
 
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