Enhanced View Services, Inc.

Three newly developed ¼-inch progressive scan CCDs—one each for red, green and blue—provide rich, accurate colors. To separate primary colors, JVC has incorporated a high accuracy Fujinon glass prism and the proprietary mounting technology.

The Red and Blue pixel locations are shifted relative to Green, allowing the sampled luminance information to be significantly increased in both horizontal and vertical directions. This results in much higher resolution images without sacrificing sensitivity.

The GY-HM100U utilizes a high definition lens by Fujinon, world leader in HD lens technology. This lens features 3 aspheric elements which minimize the weight and space required, while producing less distortion, ghosting, and flare. In addition, the lens surface is coated with a new Electronic Beam Coating (EBC) that greatly reduces degradation caused by light reflecting off the lens surfaces leading to greater light transmission and reduced flaring and ghosting. To protect the lens, a flip-in cover is provided, eliminating the need for an external cap.

Focus is controlled manually or automatically. A smooth servo zoom is controlled with a conventional rocker on the handgrip, or manually on the lens. For close-up shooting, a macro mode allows for shooting subjects as little as 2-inches away from the lens. Exposure (iris) is automatically or manually controlled, letting the shooter adjust the depth of focus by selecting the appropriate F stop. The current F stop is displayed in the viewfinder in the manual mode.

An advanced JVC-developed Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) system provides effective camera-motion compensation without any of the quality loss associated with digital image stabilization systems.

JVC's digital signal processor (DSP) processes all images as full 1920x1080 progressive signals, providing the maximum image information to work with regardless of the actual recording mode that is used. Also integrated into the chip are five digital noise reduction technologies that evaluate the signal and apply the appropriate compensation while increasing vertical resolution by about 30%.

Drawing from its experience in developing rack mount encoders used by major television stations,

JVC developed a proprietary codec capable of providing highly efficient compression up to 35 megabits per second, a bitrate that can support full 1920 x 1080 encoding. This is significantly higher than the data rates used in other hand held camcorders and results in recorded images of exceptional quality. MPEG2 long GOP is the most widely accepted broadcast standard compression supported by all popular editing systems and broadcast servers.

The GY-HM100 supports all major HD signal formats including 1920 x 1080, 1440 x 1080 and 1280 x 720.

The GY-HM100 incorporates JVC's Native File Recording technology that stores video in the ready-to-edit format used by Apple's Final Cut Pro™ non-linear editing system. The ".mov" files created in the camera can be easily dragged onto the NLE timeline without conversion or rewrapping, saving time while keeping the recorded material first generation. There is no need to use an intermediate codec.

The camera can also store files in the ISO Base Media File Format (MPEG-2 Long GOP), compatible with all major non-linear editing systems. In this mode, the files and folders are recorded so that they can be easily accessed in the post production process.

The GY-HM100 records audio as uncompressed LPCM data in both Final Cut Pro™ and ISO formats.

The GY-HM100 records on widely available SDHC Class 6 memory cards, presently available in capacities up to 32GB. The camera provides 2 memory card slots, for a total of up to 64GB of on board storage—enough for more than 6 hours* of continuous HD recording. (The camera automatically begins recording on the second card when the first card fills up.) Being able to quickly switch cards with dual slots is invaluable in a breaking news situation where a producer may wish to begin editing while the shooter is still capturing footage.
*When recording in 19Mbps mode

SDHC cards are highly reliable with no moving parts, no pins to break nor sockets to clog. Unlike competing solid state media, the per-minute cost of SDHC memory is comparable to video tape. Moreover, SDHC media is the first practical solid state solution to physical archive.

Create 2 megapixel still images (1920 x 1080) with either a live grab, or from recorded video. Since the CCDs are progressively scanned, still images are crystal clear, even if there is motion in the scene. With the GY-HM100, you can copy or move still images from one memory card to another allowing you to store still images on one card, and video on the other.

The GY-HM100 records 2 channels of uncompressed LPCM (linear pulse code modulated) 16 bit audio sampled at 48Khz. Audio levels can be controlled manually, or automatically using AGC. An audio meter is provided in the LCD and VF displays to facilitate adjustment. Balanced XLR connectors are provided on the handle for an external microphone and/or wireless receiver. 48V phantom power is available for each microphone. Versatile input switching allows the microphone signal to be directed to the desired channel. A shotgun microphone is provided, as well as a built-in stereo microphone for ambient sound pickup.