I just saw on Gizmodo website that JVC is releasing in April a new HD Everio with 1920x1080i recording on a 60g hard drive. Doesn't say which format it will use. Has 3 1/5" ccds and HDMI. SRP of $1800. Looks like it has a hot shoe as well.
Am I missing something or does this look pretty nice?

Unfortunately it will use its own proprietary format for 1920X1080 recording. It will also use an "HDV compatible" mode for 1440X1080 recording. It sounds good on paper, but I have the following reservations....my opinion only:

* I don't like the concept of HD recording. Tape is reliable, cheap and easily archived. Such is not the case with HD.
* HD recording forces you to dump to a computer frequently, even if you don't plan to do any immediate editing or any editing at all for that matter.
* Once you've dumped to the computer, how do you view it on a large screen HDTV? The only way to view this high rez recording is from the camera. This would neccesitate taking the footage you previously dumped to the computer and reloading it back to the camera. What if you have recently shot footage still on the camera? You'd have to dump that footage to clear the way for the old footage. What a pain!
* The 1/5" chips pretty much guarantee some very poor low-light performance.

With that said, results in bright light in the full rez mode should be excellent.

I think the camera looks good spec'wise but we'll have to see about how JVC can enlist the support in apps like Vegas, Premiere and Final Cut Pro.

it has hdmi interface so you can connect it to tv set directly . The most practical way to archiving it should be dumping it on computer and then burning it on blu ray disc. This particular camera uses pixel shifting which is a nifty way to trick viewers to higher resolution. Thankfully the days of tape are over but I am more partial to flash memory or solid state memory than hard disc due to less power consumption and no moving parts among other things

* Once you've dumped to the computer, how do you view it on a large screen HDTV? The only way to view this high rez recording is from the camera. This would neccesitate taking the footage you previously dumped to the computer and reloading it back to the camera. What if you have recently shot footage still on the camera? You'd have to dump that footage to clear the way for the old footage. What a pain!


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It comes with software to burn to a Blu-Ray disc. Lets hope that means a DVD as well that is compatible with Blu-Ray.

I want my HD camcorder to be Hard Drive even if tape is cheaper.