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First HDTV Camcorder
zymano writes "The JVC GR-HD1 will be introduced in May, it's the world's first consumer camcorder to offer 750 line resolution progressive video at 30 frames per second, recording MPEG2 video to MiniDV tape.
The price will start around $2500-$3500 . Some more info here with pictures. Also check out the pro version. With digital cameras at regular stores with resolution over 5 megapixel it makes you wonder why it took so long to produce."
That noone has addressed this yet:
"With digital cameras at regular stores with resolution over 5 megapixel it makes you wonder why it took so long to produce."
Anyone have an answer?
Entropy just isn't what it used to be.
Yeah, Its a shame there just isn't any software or infrastructure out there for mpeg2. Well, maybe some day there will be hardware and codecs and software to transcode & decode it.
Perhaps we can get some advanced stuff like a server that can handle the /. effect? For those who can't get to the story, here's the cut'n'paste.
BEGIN QUOTE
JVC Announces GR-HD1 - World's First Consumer High Defintion Camcorder
by News Editor
In what will certainly be considered the biggest move in the consumer camcorder industry in the last five to seven years, JVC has announced the first ever consumer High Definition recording camcorder, the GR-HD1. Announced earlier today in Japan, the GR-HD1, is the world's first consumer camcorder to offer 750 line resolution progressive video at 30 frames per second, recording MPEG2 video to MiniDV tape.
Although the camcorder doesn't reach all the capabilities of the High Definition TV standard - it will certainly be the highest resolution consumer video camcorder on the market. Having a camcorder that can record at a resolution of 750 lines in progressive video is the biggest achievement in video quality in this industry since the invention of MiniDV. In the past, camcorders have recorded at about 520 line resolution interlaced video, meaning that half the picture was recorded every other frame. Instead, with progressive video, the hole picture is recorded every frame.
The High Definition GR-HD1 uses a 1/3 in. (quite large, which is good) 1.18 million pixel progressive scan CCD to record the high resolution video to MiniDV tape. The GR-HD1 is able to squeeze the higher resolution video onto the tape by recording it in MPEG-2 format, not the standard DV format. What kind of loss in quality this creates in unknown - but it will certainly be thoroughly investigated. The camcorder has two other recording modes. SD mode - which records 525 line resolution progressive video and DV mode, which records in standard 525 line resolution interlaced MiniDV format.
The GR-HD1 also includes a ''newly developed'' optical image stabilizer built into the 10x optical zoom lens. The GR-HD1 includes both an ''up converter'' and a ''down converter'' function which enables the 525 line resolution progressive and interlaced video to be played on an HDTV and also allows the HD video to be played on a standard NTSC TV. The GR-HD1 includes a 3.5 in. LCD screen and a color viewfinder.
The camcorder includes a ''rotating grip'', which the press release said ''rotates by up to 90 degrees so camera operators can film at low angles without removing their hand from the grip.'' It also appears that the camcorder includes a focus ring, which may also be a zoom ring. The GR-HD1 can also record digital stills up 1280 x 960 pixel resolution to SD cards.
The camcorder specifications listed the effective pixel resolution of the GR-HD1 in video recording mode as 840K. The camcorder is 114.5 mm wide, 99 mm high and 271.5 mm long and the company reported that it weighs 1,490 grams during shooting operation. The camcorder includes a Firewire port, a USB port, a D terminal (we don't know what this is), a headphone out and a microphone in port and a S-Video and RCA Video in / out port.
Because current video editing software is unable to handle the HD recording format, JVC is bundling their own software with the camcorder. Quoting the press release, the MPEG Edit Studio® Pro 1.0 LE software is ''...for easy, high-speed, frame-level editing of PEG files and an "HD Capture Utility" for capturing digital high-definition images and overwriting them back to tapes. GR-HD1 users do not just take videos, they create them!'' The software consists of four main parts, a capture program, an editing interface, an audio converter and a DVD creator. When or if compatibility for existing video editing programs will be announced is unknown.
One of the confusing parts of High Definition video (HD) or HDTV is that there are multiple resolutions - some are interlaced some are progressive. The company states that the video recorded on this camcorder will playback on an HDTV at 1280 x 720 pixel resolution at 30 frames per second,
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.