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JVC has announced the launch of a hard disk drive (HDD) camcorder that combines a 3-CCD imaging device for superior quality video with the long recording time made possible by an internal 30GB hard disk drive.

The new JVC Everio G Series GZ-MG505, like all Everio G Series camcorders, eliminates the need to carry tapes, discs or any media at all, yet can record up to 7 hours of DVD movie-quality video or more than 10 hours at DVD camcorder-quality.

To put this storage capacity in context, it would take 22 single-sided DVD camcorder discs (8cm/20-minute discs) to hold just 7 hours of video at camcorder quality. In Eco mode, over 37 hours worth of video can be shot without any need to eject or reload recording media.

The GZ-MG505 sits at the top of the Everio G Series line because of its superior image quality, made possible by a 3-CCD imaging device that uses pixel-shift technology to deliver 5-Megapixel quality. In addition to native full resolution 16:9 (1173x660 x3 effective pixels) and 4:3 DVD movie quality video with superior colour rendition, this high-performance image sensor enables shooting of high-resolution JPEG photos of up to 2560x1920 pixels.

And best of all, the hard disk’s high capacity means that nearly 10000 photos can be shot without a second thought, with plenty of room left for hours of video, even at the highest quality settings. To take this many snapshots would require 416 rolls of 24-exposure film on a film camera, making the GZ-MG505 the ideal camcorder for vacations where travelling light is the priority.

Despite the enormous storage capacity, the GZ-MG505 weighs-in at barely more than a pound (510g) including the battery and lens cap. It’s small enough to easily take anywhere. Its classic camcorder-style design is topped off by a 2.7-inch widescreen 16:9 LCD that accurately displays native 16:9 videos while they are being shot, as well as during playback.

A microphone input and accessory shoe provide flexibility to capture sound and attach lighting. And with multiple interfaces, high speed 12x USB 2.0 data transfer, and supplied software (Macintosh and Windows), it’s easy to view and share all those wonderful memories.

The Everio GZ-MG505 creates sharp and vivid images by dedicating a 1.33- (1.23 effective) Megapixel CCD to each colour - red, green and blue. JVC’s advanced prism optics and filterless 3-CCD pixel shift technology quadruple the pixel count to record 5-Megapixel-class stills.

Simply put, the pixel shift technique, used also in JVC professional cameras, captures double the 1228x800-pixel information in both the horizontal and vertical directions, creating a real full colour image pixel count multiplied by four for stills. In photo mode, the Everio GZ-MG505 uses 1280x960 effective pixels for each RGB colour. The broader dynamic range delivers videos with bright realistic colours and photo-quality digital stills up to 2560x1920 pixels for beautiful A4 prints.

To fully capitalise on the camera’s inherent picture performance, JVC’s Megabrid Imaging Engine separately processes video and still signals, providing optimal processing for each. Megabrid technology assures high sensitivity and a high signal-to-noise ratio for moving pictures, and clear, high resolution progressive still images.

Also present is JVC’s 3D NR (3-Dimension Noise Reduction). Conventional 3D noise reduction offers limited accuracy since to compensate for noise it compares field A and field B that make up a frame with different sets of odd and even scanning lines.

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, the signal-to-noise ratio is improved by 2 dB and noise reduced by about 30 percent. Flicker is eliminated and colour reproduction is improved, enhancing overall picture quality.

The Everio GZ-MG505 also features a high resolution 10x optical zoom (8x for stills) JVC lens, with one of the widest 16:9 angles available for video - 35mm equivalent to 41.2mm (43mm for 4:3 stills). To achieve high-resolution images, the zoom lens is a seven group, 10 element system developed originally by JVC.

Chromatic aberration is decreased by using low dispersion glass lens materials. A combination of ultra-high-density and miniaturization was achieved with three aspheric elements. In addition, highly accurate 3CCD registration and multi-angle glass fixation technology developed by Fujinon for broadcast cameras are also used.

JVC is a leader in MPEG-2 encoding technology for both professional and consumer camcorder applications. The Everio G Series GZ-MG505 offers seven hours storage at 9 Mbps, which is close to the maximum bit rate for DVD movie quality recording, or 10.5 hours at 6 Mbps, comparable to DVD camcorder recordings.

Either way, the high quality MPEG-2 recordings are in the same format used in DVD so there will be no quality loss when burning them to DVD, and no time- and quality-wasting conversion. Two more modes are available for even more recording time, offering sufficient quality for normal TV-connected viewing or for uploading to the Internet.

The benefits of recording video to a hard disk 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 you want to keep.

A new feature for this year’s Everio G Series is Event Selection. In addition to accessing video clips by thumbnail image or date, with Event Selection the user can pre-assign while shooting, or later assign, a convenient topical category with icon. Simply calling up the event type, like “Birthday”, brings up all events associated with it. Event categories can also help make playlists for “in camera” video programs or for burning to DVD. 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 deck.

A challenge in designing and building a hard disk camcorder is protecting the disk from shocks and vibrations. One way this is done in the Everio G camcorders is through a unique floating suspension system that effectively dampens vibrations through advanced polymer shock absorbers. Another security measure familiar to notebook PC users is its gravity 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 so that a head crash can be avoided even when the unit is dropped.

The Everio GZ-MG505 offers built-in DVD burner control allowing it to be directly connected to an optional JVC DVD burner, the CU-VD10 SHARE STATION. The camcorder connects to the burner via a USB cable and the burner is easily controlled by the camcorder. The Everio converts its .mod video files to DVD Video format so the SHARE STATION can create long playing full size 12cm DVD-R discs that play on most DVD players.

For use with Windows, the GZ-MG505 comes with CyberLink’s PowerProducer 3 NE for authoring DVDs, PowerDirector Express NE for editing, and PowerDVD 5 NE for playback. For Macintosh users, JVC provides PIXELA’s Capty MPEG Edit EX for simple editing and file conversion to popular editing formats, and Mono DVD for easy DVD authoring. An available option is Capty DVD/VCD 2 for enhanced function DVD authoring.

For quick downloading to a PC, simply connect the camera via its USB 2.0 interface. All transfer is digital-to-digital so there is no quality lost in the process. The accelerated transfer speed for this year’s Everio G Series, including the GZ-MG505, is 12-times real-time speed, so a top-quality Ultra mode 60-minute (4GB) video clip can be transferred in about five minutes. And since the camera supports PictBridge, it can be connected by its USB terminal to a compatible printer for easy printing of stills directly from the camera.

This model also has 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 optimized print quality.

The JVC Everio GZ-MG505 will be available in July and will sell for approximately $1300 (£690).

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