Apr-Jul 2009
32
JVC has just introduced the GY-HM100, a break-through
hand-held ProHD camcorder that records in native Apple
Quicktime .mov le format directly to SDHC memory cards.
e camera is tiny; it ts in the palm of your hand. But the idea
is big. Aer shooting (up to 50 minutes of 1080p onto a 16GB
SDHC Memory Card, you can begin editing almost immediately
by simply dragging and dropping the les into Final Cut Studio.
Anyone who has wrangled or archived the baing array of
AVCHD and other hierarchical le formats will doubtlessly
order one of these camcorder immediately for the sheer joy of
having one le per scene.
e GY-HM100 ProHD camcorder records Quicktime les
directly to those little SDHC solid state memory cards you see in
most still cameras. Solid state prices have dropped to the point
where recording 50 minutes of 1080p can now be less expensive
than tape, and...sound the trumpets...it’s so cost eective you
would be foolish not to archive those SDHC cards as digital
masters.
Since les can be recorded in Quicktime, the native .mov les
could actually be edited directly from the solid state memory
card with Apple’s Final Cut Studio. But, you might prefer a
more elegant aproach. ere are (more angelic trumpets) two
SDHC slots on the camcorder. So, when one card has lled
up, you eject it, and either hand it o to your assistant/data
wrangler/mini-DIT or do it yourself: copy the les into your
laptop. Since, at last unocial count, 99.9% of the readers of
Film and Digital Times are on Mac, we’ll assume you’ll copy the
les onto a MacBook Pro with an SD to Express Slot adapter
(Sandisk SDAD109A11 Digital Media Memory Card to Express
Slot Adapter) or with an SD card to USB adapter.
Meanwhile, you can still keep shooting, since you’ll record
to the other slot in the camcorder. “Traditionally, camera
manufacturers have designed their products expecting NLE
vendors to conform to proprietary or generic le formats
JVC GY-HM100 ProHD 1/4" Camcorderresulting in an extra and oen time consuming step when
preparing to edit,” Craig Yanagi explained. “Files created in the
GY-HM100 can be edited immediately without conversion. It’s
truly the rst camcorder designed for post production.”
e JVC GY-HM100 ProHD camcorder weighs 3.1 lbs. It uses
three progressive scan ¼” CCDs and records at data rates up
to 35 Mbps in 1080/24p, 1080/25p, 1080/60i, 720p and much
more. SDHC Class 6 memory cards must be used. (Class 6 refers
to data rate: the higher the number, the faster it is. Many still
camera SDHC cards are Class 4 or below. SDHC cards that are
not up to class 6 specications cannot be used with either the
GY-HM100 or GY-HM700).
e GY-HM100 comes with an integrated high denition
Fujinon 10:1 lens, f1.8, 3.7-37 mm. It has manual and automatic
control of focus and iris. e lens is made with three aspheri-
cal elements and a new anti-reection coating. A retractable
cover is built into into the lens hood, eliminating the need for a
traditional lens cap. JVC’s Focus Assist displays the viewnder
or LCD image in monochrome with colored edges.
With tapeless recording to dual 64GB SDHC Class 6 memory
cards, you have enough for up to 6 hours of continuous HD
recording at 720p in SP mode (25 Mbps) and up to 3 hours, 20
minutes at 1080p in HQ mode (35 Mbps) . e camera automat-
ically begins recording on the second card when the rst card
is full.e cost per-minute of SDHC media is comparable to, or
less than, professional video tape.
JVC developed a proprietary codec capable of providing highly
ecient compression up to 35 megabits per second, with
MPEG2 long GOP encoding. e Quicktime .mov les created
in-camera can be dragged onto the NLE timeline without
conversion or rewrapping.
e camera also stores les in what the specs say is an ISO Base
Media File Format (.MP4), compatible with all major non-linear
editing systems. We are advised to use the ProHD Log and
Transfer Plug-in for Final Cut Studio to deal with these les—
but why would we if the .mov les are so much simpler and
faster to deal with, and don’t require rewrapping?
e audio recording features of the GY-HM100 include two
channels of uncompressed LPCM audio with manual level
controls and audio meter. Balanced XLR inputs with phantom
power are provided on the handle for an external microphone
and/or wireless receiver. A 2.8-inch LCD display, in 16:9 aspect
ratio, provides a wide array of monitoring and setup informa-
tion. ere’s an infrared wireless remote and you can capture
2 megapixel still images from either a live framegrab or from
recorded video.
e GY-HM100 is scheduled for delivery in April 2009. For
more information and high-resolution photos:
www.pro.jvc.com/HM100