JVC GY-HD200U DV Camcorder

The GY-HD200U records full HD in 24p, 25p, 30p, 50p and 60p. When recording in faster frame rates such as 50p or 60p, motion is smooth and retains the "live look" of television while maintaining a frame by frame sharpness superior to interlace signal formats. Furthermore, when the intended output is 24p or 30p, higher frame rate recordings can be slowed down in post production to give an ultra-smooth slow motion effect. Again all the sharpness of the full frame progressive signal is retained. JVC's new "Super Encoder" provides highly efficient realtime MPEG2 encoding of progressive signals resulting in broadcast quality HD recordings that are virtually free of visible artifacts.

The GY-HD200 also offers real HD 24p recording capability - previously available on only the most expensive HD cameras. Ideal for DVD production, HD progressive 24-frame-per-second recording makes it possible to shoot images with film-like quality and smooth motion. Once recorded, those images can easily be transferred without frame rate conversion to 16 mm or 35 mm film with full HD fidelity. ProHD's outstanding image quality is supported by a wide range of powerful features which have great appeal to true film professionals. These include the image inverse function, as required by certain film lens adapters, and a menu to select the appropriate combination of color matrix and film gamma type. Cinema Gamma is deployed to make video look like film, and Film Out gamma is used when the video is to be ultimately transferred to film. This choice of gamma means that the cinematographer, irrespective of whether the final production will be presented as film or as video, can be sure of always getting the best possible film look.

As the HDV format uses the same recording track pitch as Professional DV, the GY-HD200 can record signals in either standard (576i/60) or high (720p/60) definition, according to the user's needs. Being able to record in DV is ideal for someone migrating to HD, but who may not be ready to produce in HD immediately.

The GY-HD200 features a standard professional 1/3" bayonet lens mount, providing the opportunity to use a variety of other professional HD lenses. In addition to the standard Th16x Fujinon lens supplied, a number of other 1/3" bayonet mount zoom lenses is available. Canon offers a powerful 20x5mm zoom lens and Fujinon similarly an 18x4.2mm, besides a very wide 13x3.5mm lens and 17x5mm lens. Furthermore, lens mount adapters ACM-12 and ACM-17 convert the mount to 1/2" and 2/3" bayonet mount respectively, providing cost savings by way of using existing 1/2" and 2/3" lenses. Also, to enable the use of film camera lenses, special film lens adapters are available.

The GY-HD200 uses three 1/3" high definition CCD image sensors. Each array has a pixel resolution of 1280 x 720 and uses a micro lens system. Since this native resolution matches that of most HDTV displays, the need for image scaling is eliminated, further enhancing the quality of the recorded images. Another advantage of using these CCDs is their sophisticated circuitry which virtually eliminates both lag and image burn.

One very important reason why JVC developed the progressive form of HDV was the ease and speed with which a progressive signal can be converted to other formats, irrespective of whether the conversion is up, cross or down. Conversion is always performed in real time because the time-consuming complexity of de-interlacing is not required. The GY-HD200 can be set to output 1080i/60 from any recorded 720p/60 footage, whether recorded on a MiniDV cassette or on the DR-HD100 hard disk drive.