BIOS: Technology Means Business

JVC has announced a new series of camcorders that eliminate the need to carry tapes, discs or any media at all, yet they can record up to 7 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, claims the company. The new Everio G series record to a built-in hard disk drive and are available in 20- or 30GB versions.

JVC's initial Everio G offering consists of four models. The GZ-MG20 ($700) offers a 20GB hard disk drive and the GZ-MG30 ($800) ships with a 30GB hard disk drive, providing 7 and 10.5 hours respectively. Higher-end models with a 1.33-Megapixel CCD are the 7-hour 20GB GZ-MG40 ($800) and 10.5-hour 30GB GZ-MG50 ($900). To put the storage capacity in context, it would take around 22 DVD camcorder discs (8cm/1.4GB discs) to hold 7 hours of video.

Despite the high capacity storage, the Everio G camcorders are still just about small enough for everyday usage. Their design is similar to a MiniDV camcorder's, which means that they should be comfortable to hold and operate, and include a relatively large 2.5-inch flip-out LCD monitor for recording and playback.

Playback should be a snap too, with multiple connections allowing convenient TV playback, dubbing to a VCR or DVD recorder, transferring to a PC or Macintosh for DVD creation, editing, posting on the Internet, or even burning 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 over 7 hours storage at 9Mbit/s, which is close to the maximum bit rate for DVD movie quality recording, or 10.5 hours at 6bit/s, which is comparable to DVD camcorders. Two more modes are available for even more recording time. The entry level GZ-MG40 and GZ-MG20 offer an impressive 4.5 hours storage at 9Mbit/s, and over 7 hours at 6Mbit/s. Either way, the MPEG-2 recordings are in the same format used in DVD so there should 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 drive 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 mistakenly recording over something that's to be saved.

Scene selection should be easy thanks to on-screen index images. And with remote control operation, it is possible to connect the Everio G camcorder to a TV and operate it from a distance, just like a DVD player. Playlist operation allows recording of desired clips directly to DVD with the optional DVD burner, or directly to VHS or other analogue input devices with the S-Video or composite video outputs.

A challenge in designing and building a hard disk-based camcorder is protecting the drive from shocks and vibrations. One way this is done in the Everio G camcorders is through a unique floating suspension system that dampens vibrations through advanced polymer shock absorbers. Another security measure familiar to laptop users is its gravity-like force sensor system that automatically senses sudden acceleration such as in a free fall situation, and turns off the power to defend the hard disk drive so that a head crash can be avoided in many cases even when the unit is dropped.

Also present on all four models is JVC's 3D NR (3-Dimension Noise Reduction). Conventional 3D noise reduction technology which compares field A and field B that make up a frame with different sets of odd and even scanning lines to compensate for noise. JVC's 3D NR technology compares field A to field A, and field B to field B across two frames so that the scanning lines are identical and noise can be reduced more accurately. As a result, signal-to-noise ratio is improved by 2dB and noise reduced by about 30 per cent, according to the company. Flicker should also be eliminated and colour reproduction improved.

Everio G models also have an SD Memory Card slot for direct transfer of digital still image data. DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) support allows the menus on the camera screen to be used to conveniently select images and quantity before giving removable media to a printing service. The JPEG images themselves conform to DCF, PIM 3 and Exif 2.2 for optimised print quality.