New Victor/JVC Everio G Series
“No tape, no disc. It’s hard disk!” While the slogan is not really new anymore, what IS new is Victor’s Everio G Series — announced today — which feature large capacity built-in hard disk drive, and can record up to 10.5 hours of DVD-quality video.
They boosted the storage space dramatically, so there is no need to carry tapes or discs anymore. The built-in hard drives now come in 20 and 30 GB (gigabyte) versions and can record up to 7 hours of DVD movie-quality video or more than 10 hours at DVD camcorder-quality. That’s the equivalent of 21 8cm-DVD camcorder discs.
The JVC Everio G series comes in 4 configurations. The 20GB hard disk (GZ-MG20) and 30GB hard disk (GZ-MG30) models will provide 7 and 10.5 hours respectively of DVD camcorder-quality video. And the GZ-MG40 (20 GB) and GZ-MG50 (30 GB) have a 1.33 Megapixel CCD.
All models weigh under 380 grams (with battery) and sport a 2.5-inch flip-out LCD monitor. They also released an optional DVD burner to burn DVDs directly without using a PC. The video compression format is MPEG-2, which is the same format used in DVD, so no quality loss to be expected when burning a DVD, nor long conversion time.
But to me the 1.33 megapixel CCD seems like a step down from the previous series. The high end GZ-MC500E was 3CCD and 5 megapixel, which might be a bit bulkier, but makes a whole world of a difference in the final quality. The HD was much smaller though, so you always need to find out what you want to prioritize when you buy your camera. Either that, or Victor plans to release a 3CCD, 5 megapixel 30 GB series next, which would be the ultimate thing on the digital video market.
For more goodness and specs, read the JVC press release.
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