The HDV revolution.(video viewpoint)

It's been about a year and a half since JVC's consumer division introduced a camcorder, the GR-HD1, able to record High Definition Video (HDV) onto a MiniDV cassette. And, it's been a little more than a year since JVC's professional division launched its version of the product, the JY-HD10, at the 2003 NAB convention. At those introductions, both products gained significant notoriety for technical achievement, but, admittedly, there were skeptics.

After all, JVC's original positioning for this new HD-on-DV format envisioned a high-definition future with consumers shooting vacations and birthday parties in HD and playing them back on JVC's plasma television monitors. At the time, however, few consumers had those HD-capable TV sets, and professionals were understandably leery of single-CCD camcorders serving any serious purpose. (Both the GR-HD1 and the JY-HD10 have just a single CCD, rather than the three CCDs--one for each primary color--of more professional camcorders). Minimally, it's counterintuitive to expect a camera equipped with limited color and light sensitivity to try to stand up under the detail-revealing scrutiny of high-definition pictures.

However, the future has changed quite a bit over the past year. HDTV has gone from 15 years of hype to a regular production format for several prime-time and late-night television programs, as well as many sports broadcasts. HD motion-picture production, led by George Lucas and Star Wars Episodes I and II, is also gaining momentum. More important, for increased mass awareness, prices on HD-capable displays, including flat-panel plasmas and LCD TVs, are dropping, and an increasing number of cable and satellite TV providers are offering HDTV channels.

With that expanding awareness of HD comes the burgeoning aspirations of video-makers at all levels to shoot in HD, making JVC's basic idea of affordable HD production intriguing for videographers of more modest means. Even with its early single-CCD implementations, JVC clearly struck a chord with the independent video community. That's not to say that JVC has had a runaway success, although the "pro" JY-HD10 has had its share of vocal early adopters. Rather, the notion of affordable HD production has piqued curiosity.

JVC's competition recognized it, too, and that spawned a remarkable industry consortium. This collaboration of competitive camcorder makers (Sony, Sharp, and Canon) has now expanded and refined JVC's idea and coined the HDV moniker. Thus far, more than a dozen and a half editing-system, image-processing, and chip manufacturers have formally expressed support for the newly formed HDV standard, with several already including support for HDV in current products.

Admittedly, current claims of HDV support tend to put the proverbial cart before the horse. While an HDV standard has emerged in a basic form, that new standard goes beyond JVC's early camcorder implementations and, while HDV will undoubtedly beget more camcorder models for a variety of manufacturers, as yet none exist. Still, the simple fact that several companies are jumping in early is proof positive that interest in this new, affordable way to produce HD content is strong.

As of this writing, prior to NAB 2004, no new domestic HDV camcorders have yet been announced, although in March Sony Europe showed an unnamed three-CCD PAL HDV camcorder (roughly in the form factor of Sony's VX2100) that is expected to sell for less than $5000 later this year. JVC and Sony have both let be known their respective intentions to demonstrate at least one HDV model at NAB. Sony's is expected to be an NTSC version of the European product, and JVC's, rumor suggests, is a larger, shoulder-mounted camcorder in the style of JVC's GY-DV5000, with 3 2/3-inch CMOS CCDs and the ability to record to MiniDV or larger "standard" DV cassettes with up to 270 minutes of recording time. But, that won't be available until late in the year.