New JVC cams promise 1080p output, more

Saving one of its key announcements for the aftermath of the CES expo, JVC this morning revealed two high-end camcorders in its Everio lineup for its home territory of Japan. Both the GZ-HD5 and its premium cousin the HD6 are about 40 percent smaller than the HD7 they replace but output at higher quality than before. The HD6 in particular is one of the first to generate a full-quality HD image: while capturing internally at 1920x1080 interlaced, new hardware allows it to upscale to 1080p on the flywhile maintaining the 60Hz frame rate needed for fast action on a modern HDTV. With HDMI output, videographers can see this image quality without authoring the video on a computer, JVC says.

Apart from resolution, the HD5 and HD6 are separated by storage, with the base HD5 shipping with 60GB of storage while the HD6 packs 120GB, or enough to store about 10 hours of HD footage at full quality. Either also brings the unique addition of a microSDHC card slot that can be used either to shuttle video off the camera or for recording 4:3 ratio HD video. The two revolve around 10X optical zoom lenses.

Both come with software for editing both on Windows PCs as well as to support official Apple apps and should be available simultaneously in Japan for mid-February at approximate prices of $1,407 for the HD5 and $1,594 for the HD6. JVC is virtually certain to release both cameras in the US at a later date but has not announced American launch plans.

Filed under: gadgets, digital imaging
Other story tags: JVC, Everio