Wayne, N.J. – JVC said today it will start shipping its HD camcorder in May.
The GR-HD1 camcorder, which JVC is calling the first consumer high-definition camcorder, was previewed at International CES last month. It will have a suggested retail price of $3,499.95, slightly higher than the expected selling price of $3,000 JVC executives estimated during CES.
JVC will show several working samples and demonstrations during the PMA Show in Las Vegas, March 2-5. The camcorder records in both NTSC and U.S. ATSC HDTV Standard video on a standard miniDV cassette. JVC claims it is the first consumer camcorder that is able to record and play back viewable 750 total progressive scanning lines and 525p progressive wide images using miniDV tape.
Recording can be done in a 4 by 3, 480i as well as 16 by 9, 480/60p and 16 by 9, 720/60p (MPEG-2 compression). In an analog component it can play back in 480i in NTSC and 480/60i, 720/60p and 1080i, making it compatible with all display devices, the company said. The camcorder outputs to D-VHS or computers via FireWire depending.
During CES JVC reported that a 60-minute miniDV cassette holds 60 minutes of HD content from the camcorder or 60 minutes of standard definition video.
