HD For Indies

Interview and Pictures: JVC's ProHD Camcorders from filmimaging.com.

Interview with JVC guy, and includes high res photos of the sub-$10K camera, discusses the $28K cameras (including lense).

Really nice, high res pictures of the under $8000 GYHD100U here, here, here, and here

-they are claiming to have superior quality MPEG-2 encoding.

high end camera (the GYHD7000) will have:
-2/3 inch CMOS imagers
-interchangable lenses
-720p or 1080i
-$27,950 list US
-1920x1080 sensor resolution

lower end camera (GYHD100U)
-3 1/3" inch CCD chip camera
-interchangable bayonet mount lenses
-under $8K US
-24p
-widely adjustable gamma controls
-skin tone detection
-settings savable on memory card
-does 720/30p
-1280x720 sensor
-no 1080i mode apparently
-definitely strictly progressive
-2 XLR mike inputs
-384 kilobits/sec MPEG layer 1 audio/channel, "roughly CD quality" (hmmm, we'll see -mike)
-the ProHD format allows for 4 audio channels eventually, this camera only uses 2
-6 frame GOP (as opposed to 15 with the Sony cameras)
-supposedly more robust, less likely to have dropouts than DV
-can record ProHD format straight to hard disk (hooray!)
-will be demonstrating at NAB with Avid.
-there will be demonstrated solutions with FCP and Premiere Pro. Premiere Pro will be shown using Cineform. No mention made of what the FCP solution is (I know but can't say, suffice it to say there will be a prompt solution)

Other Stuff at NAB from JVC:
-a ProHD deck, the BR-HD50U - HDMI output for monitors (nice!), (but what about component or HD-SDI?)
-new 10-inch HDTV monitor, the DT-V100U
-plasmas, LCDs and CRT monitors throughout the booth
-a 1920x1080 progressive D-ILA projector , the DLA-HD2K.

Mike's Comments - it'll be nice to have a midrange camera in the $30K price point. That gives us HD cameras in the $3K-$8K range, then again at $28K, then at $43K, then at $65K, then at $100K and up. Nice to have more options. I'm still very concerned about the MPEG-2 efficiency of this format and how well it holds up to color correction (I've had problems with the Sony HDV footage in this regard), we'll just have to wait and see. Nice glass, nice imagers etc. may all be great, but the compession may be the achilles heel on this one.

-mike