I'm skeptical. This is not revolutionary. There are two existing camcorder lines that compete with this, albeit a grand or two over the price (assuming this comes in around 4k) - the Sony EX1, and Panasonic's HVX200. Both have more control and professional features. The EX1 has 1/2 inch chips (the difference between, say, regular 8mm and Super 16 in terms of depth of field control) and unbelievable low light performance with a 35mbps codec similar to JVC's. The Panasonic uses a codec that isn't subject to the perils of temporal compression (but does have an issue re its lower res chips). With the JVC and for the matter the Sony, you still need to transcode if you want to work efficiently in anything but a cuts-and-dissolves only environment. Final Cut Pro already deals with these formats natively. JVC is just finally introducing a competing product. The whole "direct to quicktime" thing is just hype. DVCPro HD is already FCP compatible and doesn't need transcoding. Any temporal codec is going to need transcoding for professional use whether its "native quicktime" or not: its just the nature of the beast - the basic physical reality of GOP structure.
The one fantastic, revolutionary thing is that it uses SDHC cards instead of a proprietary and more expensive card format. But it's 1/4" chips and mpeg2. The 35mbps codec, if its anything like Sony's, will be significantly better than HDV though. If you're looking at ye olde classic DV equivalents, this is a dressed up tapeless TRV900. not a tapeless DVX-100 or XL1. The lens is another variable. In HD, the lens is a huge factor. None of the cams in this range have had particularly good lenses, but that's not surprising given the cost of HD lenses. That doesn't mean its not good or a good value, its just not particularly groundbreaking. I'll look at it closely when its available, but if I'm in the market in something for this range I suspect I'll wait and save a little bit more for something like an EX1. _______________________________________________________ Brook Hinton film/video/audio art www.brookhinton.com studio vlog/blog: www.brookhinton.com/temporalab [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
