I am excited by this camcorder. I am surprised at the lack of discussion about it.

Shouldn't it get its own forum? I guess it is technically not HDV, since it is 30mbps so more like HDV Plus ;)

It has a mode that is fully HDV compatible 25Mbps 1080i, although can not be called HDV because it does not capture to tape. But it is proper HDV as far as software is concerned.
It also has two other modes which offer:
1.) Full 1080i(1980x1080i with the same 5hr recording length as the HDV compatible mode.
2.) An extended record mode of 7hr with the same resolution as HDV (1440x1080i)

These last two modes are examples of cramming more into the same space, which would suggest a lower bitrate, not higher. My guess is the "extended" modes to be 19.7Mbps. I am not sure how these will be edited.

I think it would be wise if the cam was released before it gets a forum of its own. As of now we only have a little blurb from the marketing department which tells us next to nothing. Not even a full spec list has been released.

Hse Kha,
There are already people talking about it here:
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=83341

Thanks for the info.

I checked more into the camcorder and sadly the CCDs are very low in resolution :( They use "pixel shifting" to get 1920x1080.

So we have the first camcorder to capture full 1920x1080 paired with a sensor that cannot even capture close to 1920x1080. At the same time we have the Canon HV10 with a sensor that CAN capture 1920x1080 but saves at only 1440x1080...

Shouldn't it get its own forum?Yes it should, and here it is, only eight months later!

Thanks Chris! I am very excited about this camera as an affordable prosumer hd camcorder. I would like to purchase one if I can find one for 800 ish dollars. (don't laugh, I've seen them going for 900 ish on ebay!)

Okay. I am considering this camera too. But actually the HD7, not he new model to be released which is the HD7U. The price on the HD7 is $1300 at B&H, about $400 less than the newer HD7U. So is there any reason to buy the HD7U if I can get the HD7 for $400 less, and maybe even for less in the next couple months?

Also, one drawback to this camera (at least the HD7 that I recently looked over at a major retailer) was that there was no headphone jack. But the clerk told me that there is a special AV out/USB jack that can also be used for a headphone. Does this click with you guys?

What model are you considering?

Finally, with a 60 gig hard drive, how much raw HD will I be able to save. The clerk said 5 hours, but that seems high to me for uncompressed HD.

There are a lot of things to consider, but probably the thing that has me the most concerned is that I keep hearing that it tends to be a little grainy in the darks, and that for a 3 CCD, it isn't as sharp as let's say the Canon XH A1 (which I know costs a hec of a lot more).

I still haven't decided, so I will be wathing this thread closely.

What is the HD7U?

I'm sorry. Maybe we are talking different cameras. I read a review in Videomaker on the JVC GZ-HD7U camera. So I went to Circuit City and checked out the JVC HD7, which I presume is the current model of the camera you are all talking about. I wanted to see how it handled, to see if I would even consider this model or the upcoming model. Hope that answers your question.

I believe the HD7 and U are the same model, correct me if I am wrong.

Finally, with a 60 gig hard drive, how much raw HD will I be able to save. The clerk said 5 hours, but that seems high to me for uncompressed HD.


Where did you get the belief that it is capturing "uncompressed"?

They're muxed mpeg transport streams- so they're compressed that's for sure!!!!!

Interesting. That's what the salesman told me, "raw HD". But I thought it was a little fishy. guess I will try to find a thread on which compression is the best for cameras in the under-$1500 range.

And the 7U is the latest model according to Videomaker's review.

Interesting. That's what the salesman told me, "raw HD". But I thought it was a little fishy. guess I will try to find a thread on which compression is the best for cameras in the under-$1500 range.

And the 7U is the latest model according to Videomaker's review.

1) The U means it is for the USA. There is no newer HD7.

2) Not a well done review. Perfect Vision has a better one.

I suspect that when consumer magazines talk about "ghosting" from compression they are really noticing the inability of the LCD monitor to update fast enough. I don't remember any talk of ghosting for the first several years of HDV. Now in the last year, there is talk of HDV ghosting. MPEG compression errors show as macro-blocking.

The same with noise. LCDs and plasmas can inject a lot of noise in a pix.