JVC ProHD Open House
independentfilm.com attended the free information seminar at the Tribeca Screening Room to learn more about the new GY-HD100 ProHD camcorder from JVC.
Published Oct 22, 2005
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Edit page New page Hide edit links
By Corey Boutilier
On Friday, October 21st, JVC held an open House at the Tribeca Screening Room in New York to showcase their new ProHD High Definition Product Line. The event featured a trade show floor with partnering companies including AbleCine Tech, Lumiere, DuArt, and Anton Bauer followed by presentations and examples of footage shot with the new JVC GY-HD100U ProHD camcorder transfered to film. The film, presented by DuArt was screened in the companion movie theater.
Something of interest was the clarification of the "ProHD" title. Apparently when "ProHD" was first announced at NAB, many people were confused by the title and thought that it was a new format. However, the "ProHD" title is simply the name of the new JVC product line. It was announced that we will see the "ProHD" title used even more in the future.
The lecture described different available types of HD formats from all of the camera manufacturers and went into specifics about HDV. The JVC HDV GY-HD100U camera shoots in a native 24 progressively scanned MPEG-2 format. The JVC camera was designed as an HD ENG camera and also as a movie film replacement camera. Since the JVC camera is the only camcorder in this price range to shoot in native 24p, it is perfectly suited for independent filmmakers. The camera shoots at 24p but also embeds additional information in the frame so the the footage can still be viewed on standard televisions. This is different than the existing mini-dv 24p cameras that duplicate interlaced frames. The JVC HDV camcorder shoots true 24 frames per second.
DuArt presented test footage from a National Geographic expedition to Madagascar. Despite heavy rain and blasts of water from the river they were navigating, the camera kept performing. Although a couple of times they did have to dry the camera out by the heat of their fireplace.
To my eyes, the film transfer looked really good. The blacks were solid, and the whites didn't "peak" as has been the typical problem associated with the lower format of "DV" or "mini-DV". And, this JVC HDV GY-HD100U camcorder still shoots on mini-DV tapes in the higher, more efficient HDV format.
Sol Comerchero, Pro-Video Sr. Account Manager from Anton Bauer (pictured above) was on hand to demonstrate their specially designed power supplies for the GY-HD100. They worked closely with the JVC factory designers to develop an ergonomically designed solution for the HDV camera to eliminate the need for small consumer batteries. The mount ( Anton/Bauer QR-JVC7/14 HDV Gold Mount ) also features a RealTime interface to the camera which displays the batteries remaining time in hours and minutes in the viewfinder of the camera.
independentfilm.com ran into Jonathan Greenfield (Director of Chaim - pictured below) who we first met at the 2005 Woodstock Film Festival. He attended the JVC open house to learn more about shooting in High Definition and the 24p capabilities. "I think that the camera feels more balanced on my shoulder with the Anton Baur battery attached."
independentfilm.com's Jeremy Carr (pictured below) attended to see the DuArt footage transferred to film and to test the ergonomics of the GY-HD100. "The camera is much lighter than I had expected it to be."
[In Technology]
Additional Events at ProFusion 2011, DV Expo East, and Columbia College Chicago May 26, 2011
[In Resources]
Fest to fete special guests Vera Farmiga, Paul Haggis; Mike O’Malley joins Anne Meara as hosts of Late Night Storytelling May 26, 2011
Add a Comment
Please be civil.