JVC’s New Tape- and Disk-free Camcorders

September 14, 2004: In October, JVC Australia will release two palm-size digital media cameras that shoot 60 minutes of DVD-quality video or thousands of high resolution stills using a high capacity 4GB Microdrive.

The new Everio GZ-MC100 and GZ-MC200 cameras mark a new initiative in video products by adopting new types of digital media, a trend that began in audio. The GZ-MC100 is about the size and shape of an electric razor and is ideal for casual shooting, while the GZ-MC200 has a rotating grip and more professional styling. The image sensor in both cameras is a 4 x 3 mm CCD with 2.12 million photosites. Effective image resolution is 2.0 megapixels for stills and 1.23 megapixels for movie clips. The lens on both models is designed for 2.12 megapixel performance and includes a glass-moulded aspherical lens element. It supports 10x optical zoom plus 200x digital zoom.
Both models carry an RRP of $2199 and both come with a 4GB Microdrive that can hold up to 60 minutes of DVD-quality MPEG-2 video or over 5,500 digital stills at a resolution of 1600×1200 pixels. Both also allow quick transfer of material to a PC and easy saving to DVD. Movie clips are good enough to display on large plasma and LCD screens and rear-projection TV sets and a convenient multi-connector AV/S-Video cable is included for direct connection. Four video modes are supported, with bit rates ranging from 8.5 Mbps in UltraFine mode to 1.5 Mbps in Eco mode. Four stills resolutions are provided: UXGA, SXGA, XGA and VGA.
A separate SD card slot is provided to increase data storage capacity and the Microdrive slot will accept CompactFlash cards. Both cameras have USB2.0/1.1 ports for transferring image data to a PC or compatible printer and DPOF support allows the camera menu to be used to select shots for printing. Bundled software includes Cyberlink DVD Solution, PowerProducer, PowerDirector Express and PowerDVD. Details can be found at www.jvc-australia.com.