JVC Everio camcorder

[Tippi]

Hi, I'm interested in the JVC Everio HM200BU HD Camcorder. Amazon.com
give it pretty good reviews, but I have some techinical questions.

http://www.jvc.ca/en/consumer/product-detail.asp?model=GZ-HM200BU

- what is 1920x1080/60P - does that mean it is not interlaced?
- how easy are AVCHD files to work with if I want to make a DVD?
- roughly how much footage will fit on an 8GB SD card?

Currently I'm using a Jazz HD camcorder. It does a reasonable job in
good light, what bugs me the most is no optical zoom. The main reason
I'm thinking about the JVC is for an upcoming Mediterranean cruise
cruise and I can get this camera with just loyalty points (Airmiles)
and not paying a cent. Since I can't make blu-ray Discs now, I'll
mainly view the files on a PS3 or make DVDs. Should I even upgrade now?

[David Ruether]

Post by Tippi
Hi, I'm interested in the JVC Everio HM200BU HD Camcorder. Amazon.com
give it pretty good reviews, but I have some techinical questions.
http://www.jvc.ca/en/consumer/product-detail.asp?model=GZ-HM200BU
- what is 1920x1080/60P - does that mean it is not interlaced?

1920x1080i = interlaced, 1920x1080p = progressive (which is unusual
at 60fps, but interesting if true...;-).

Post by Tippi
- how easy are AVCHD files to work with if I want to make a DVD?

The highest data rate of 24 Mbps that the camera appears capable of
shooting at, while potentially roughly equaling HDV quality (all else
being about equal - how's that for being definite? ;-) is as yet VERY
awkward to edit (unlike HDV), but once edited, you can easily make
cheap red-laser DVDs using standard writers (although this data
rate may exceed the DVD's capability...[?]) that play on most Blu-ray
players. You can, of course, write Blu-ray disks, and you can transcode
the files to standard SD DVD MPEG-2, which can make good SD
DVD versions.

Post by Tippi
- roughly how much footage will fit on an 8GB SD card?

It depends on the data rate you shoot at, but a guess is that at 24 Mbps
60i, about 35+ minutes would fit (based on guessing using 25 Mbps HDV
fitting 1 hour per about 12.5 GB of tape). Using the next slower recording
speed (likely 17 Mbps) would both extend the recording time some and
make editing easier (and there would be no problem authoring red laser
disks with this data rate), but at the cost of reduced image quality.

Post by Tippi
Currently I'm using a Jazz HD camcorder. It does a reasonable job in
good light, what bugs me the most is no optical zoom. The main reason
I'm thinking about the JVC is for an upcoming Mediterranean cruise
cruise and I can get this camera with just loyalty points (Airmiles)
and not paying a cent. Since I can't make blu-ray Discs now, I'll
mainly view the files on a PS3 or make DVDs. Should I even upgrade now?

Dunno.....
--DR

[Frank]

On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:06:39 -0400, in 'rec.video',
in article <Re: JVC Everio camcorder>,

Post by David Ruether

Post by Tippi
Hi, I'm interested in the JVC Everio HM200BU HD Camcorder. Amazon.com
give it pretty good reviews, but I have some techinical questions.
http://www.jvc.ca/en/consumer/product-detail.asp?model=GZ-HM200BU
- what is 1920x1080/60P - does that mean it is not interlaced?

1920x1080i = interlaced, 1920x1080p = progressive (which is unusual
at 60fps, but interesting if true...;-).

As I understand it, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

First of all, the GZ-HM200 (which comes in your choice of black, blue,
or red - known to the State of California and JVC as onyx, sapphire,
and ruby, respectively) doesn't do "60" anything.

The U.S./Canada/Japan version of the GZ-HM200 has a 59.94 Hz timebase
and the European version has a 50 Hz timebase.

The U.S./Canada/Japan version *records* 1080i59.94 video to SD/SDHC
flash memory cards. The European version *records* 1080i50 video to
SD/SDHC flash memory cards.

The camcorder has two built-in card slots and recording will
automatically switch over from one card to the other when the first
card becomes full, thus doubling the maximum possible recording time
whenever two cards are used. In its published specs, the authors at
JVC and/or its ad firm sometimes take this into account and sometimes
don't, thus some of the published maximum recording times are twice
(i.e., two times) that found elsewhere.

During playback from the flash memory card, the U.S./Canada/Japan
version of the camcorder has the ability to *output* a 1080p59.94
signal. During playback from the flash memory card, the European
version has the ability to *output* a 1080p50 signal. In both cases,
this is accomplished by first deinterlacing the source and then
outputting each frame twice to create a pseudo "double-frame-rate",
pseudo progressive signal for display on an attached HDTV.

Using the U.S./Canada/Japan version of the camcorder as an example,
the 1080i59.94 frames of video are read off of the flash memory card
and deinterlaced to create 1080p29.97 frames of video. Each of those
1080p29.97 frames of video is output twice, thus producing a rate of
1080p59.94. The European version works the same way except that it
starts with 1080i50 frames of video and outputs 1080p50 frames of
video.

Post by David Ruether

Post by Tippi
- roughly how much footage will fit on an 8GB SD card?

It depends on the data rate you shoot at, but a guess is that at 24 Mbps
60i, about 35+ minutes would fit (based on guessing using 25 Mbps HDV
fitting 1 hour per about 12.5 GB of tape). Using the next slower recording
speed (likely 17 Mbps) would both extend the recording time some and
make editing easier (and there would be no problem authoring red laser
disks with this data rate), but at the cost of reduced image quality.

According to JVC, approximate recording time using the highest quality
24 Mbps mode, called "UPX", is 40 minutes on a single 8 GB SDHC card.
Using two 32 GB SDHC cards, the total maximum recording time in UPX
mode would be 320 minutes or 5 hours 20 minutes.

Recording times will vary because all recording on the GZ-HM200 is
done in VBR (variable bit rate) mode; CBR (constant bit rate) is never
used. Also, all recording on the GZ-HM200, regardless of mode, is
full-raster, square-pixel 1920 by 1080; anamorphically-squeezed,
non-square pixel 1440 by 1080 is not used. Video data is stored in
8-bit 4:2:0 format.

Audio is 2-channel 16-bit 48 kHz sampling rate lossy compressed Dolby
Digital AC-3 at a data rate of 128 kbps per channel. 5.1 surround
sound is not supported.

The GZ-HM200 has a single 1/4-inch (0.25-inch) 3.05 MP (gross) CMOS
sensor and uses EIS (electronic image stabilization) rather than OIS
(optical image stabilization). The design of the GZ-HM200 avoids
superfluous features such as a microphone input jack, a headphone
output jack, or a viewfinder (sarcasm intended), although the
camcorder is equipped with a 2.7-inch (diagonally measured) active
matrix TFT LCD panel with approximately 123,000 pixels - ideally
suited for critical focus of a 2.01 megapixel image (sarcasm
intended).