Main Feature
JVC Showcases Expanding ProHD Lineup at NAB 2006
By Myrna Tobisoo
Apr 26, 2006, 17:07

Ever since JVC introduced the concept of "affordable HD" in 2003, HD is no longer thought of as a technology for the exclusive dominion of an elite few. JVC Professional Products Company has been at the forefront of this "democratization" of HD technology with ProHD, pioneering the concept of practical and affordable products. It began in 2002, with JVC's D-VHS-based Digital Dailies system, still used in motion picture screenings . It continued with JVC's introduction of the first ever HDV camcorder that broke technological barriers of size and performance.

In 2005, JVC introduced the GY-HD100U camcorder and BR-HD50U recorder for professional HD acquisition. These products have been enthusiastically adopted by industry leaders in every market segment for a wide range of applications. The GY-HD100U alone won more than 12 industry awards including NAB's coveted Award for Innovation in Media (AIM).

In the brief eight months since delivery began, more than 12,000 GY-HD100U camcorders have entered the global professional arena. Monthly sales volume of HD models has eclipsed sales of SD models.

Building on the success of the GY-HD100U, JVC continues to empower HD users with the introduction of two new cameras: The GY-HD250U and the GY-HD200U.

The GY-HD250U adds 60p and studio capabilities. Building on the "compact shoulder" form factor, the GY-HD250U adds next generation 60p ultra-efficient encoding, HD-SDI output with embedded audio, time code synchronization and genlock. The camera also has composite video outputs, pool feed, and BNC connectors. Ideal for Electronic News Gathering (ENG) applications, the GY-HD250U performs equally well in SD and HD environments. Capture and recording in 60p provides high resolution and smooth motion for news and sports.

By adding the optional DR-HD100U Hard Disk Drive Recorder, the camera system provides dual-media recording on both tape and HDD. The unit also has retro-recording capability that enables the capture of up to 8 seconds of material prior to pressing the record button. A single 80GB drive will record up to 7 and _ hours of HD. Plus, the DR-HD100U provides advanced Direct-to-Edit capability with the future implementation Apple's .mov file structure eliminating the need to ingest the recorded material so you can start editing immediately on your Final Cut Studio timeline.

The GY-HD250U can also easily be converted to a cost-effective studio camera with the KA-HD250 Studio Kit. This new camera follows in the tradition of the JVC GY-DV550U Professional DV camera, which has found wide use in educational, religious, and local cable origination applications as well as in many broadcast studios.

Operating in both SD and HD, the GY-HD250U offers an affordable bridge to HD for all of these applications.

The GY-HD250U, like the GY-HD100U is also ideally suited for digital cinematography with Enhanced Cinema Gamma, true 24p recording, and interchangeable lenses.

JVC's second new camera offering is the GY-HD200U, which provides ideal features for specialized markets such as film schools and rental facilities as well as broadcast ENG applications.

The GY-HD200U expands on the GY-HD100U with the addition of a 60p encoder, enhanced cinema gamma, and additional key features specifically designed for cinematography applications.

With the introduction of JVC's exclusive HZ-CA13U 16mm Film Lens Adapter with PL Mount, the GY-HD200U will be able to accept a variety of stock prime and zoom lenses, greatly enhancing the camera's lens choices. The GY-HD200U also has an Image Inversion function, which allows for the compensation of picture reversal created by prime lenses, so the image is recorded in its correct proportion.

While providing additional capabilities such as 60p capture and Image Inversion, cosmetically the GY-HD200U is virtually identical to the GY-HD100U, so all of the accessories currently available can be fully utilized.

A third piece of JVC's expanded ProHD offerings is the SA-HD50U ProHD Encoder/Decoder, a major breakthrough in the recording and transmission of HD. This advanced SA-HD50U Encoder/Decoder takes the uncompressed HD-SDI signals and encodes them into a compressed HDV720P 19Mbps or HDV1080i 25Mbps stream in real time, which can be recorded directly onto an HDV720P (19.7Mbps) or HDV1080i (25Mbps) studio deck, or transferred directly to a disk based recording or editing system.

The SA-HD50U Encoder/Decoder comes equipped with a number of multi-format interfaces, including HD-SDI with embedded audio, IEEE 1394 and Analog Component connections. Input/Output capabilities include HD-SDI 720/60P/50P and 1080/60i/50i. IEEE 1394 interface includes 720/60P/50P/30P/25P/24P and 1080/60i/50i.

Its small size and low power consumption allow for easy mounting in restricted space such as vans and helicopters. When used with a DVB-ASI bridge (such as DVEO) the SA-HD50U provides economical microwave/satellite transmission at a fraction of the cost of conventional encoders.

The SA-HD50U facilitates efficient record and playback, economical archiving of news footage through use of the BR-HD50U ProHD VTR as well as broadcast quality delayed program playback capabilities at 19Mbps. Coupled with the BR-HD50U, users can ingest audio and video content from varied HD sources to a native HDV editing system. The two components also provide editing professionals with economical HDV distribution and archiving to inexpensive media formats. For example, the BR-HD50U can store up to 276 minutes of HD programming on a single economical LA-DV276PRO standard size Professional DV cassette.

The SA-HD50U is ideally suited for television stations and networks and post production suites.

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