JVC Native Support of Final Cut Pro Meets College Video Demands

By Ken Kerschbaumer

Economic concerns had colleges and university athletic departments looking
for cost-effective production and post-production alternatives at NAB,
a boon to JVC Professional Products Company whose NAB booth was busier
than it was last year. “A lot of colleges and universities and organizations
that work with schools were interested in our products,” says Craig
Yanagi, JVC national marketing manager for creation products.

Yanagi says the interest was the direct result of JVC addressing two
of the biggest concerns in the market simultaneously faster workflow
and lower media costs. “Until now those two concerns were not hand
in hand,” says Yanagi. “But after the dust from all the new product
announcements at NAB settled we were the long company standing that
met those two concerns.”

JVC’s big news was the GY-HM100 ProHD camcorder, the industry’s
first professional handheld camcorder to record files directly to solid-state
media in the native format of Apple’s Final Cut Pro nonlinear editing
system. For the first time, recorded material can be edited directly
from the solid-state memory card, dramatically reducing the amount of
time required to edit programs.

“Traditionally, camera manufacturers have designed their products
expecting NLE vendors to conform to proprietary or generic file formats,
resulting in an extra and often time-consuming step when preparing to
edit,” says Yanagi. “Files created in the GY-HM100 can be edited
immediately without conversion. It’s truly the first camcorder designed
for postproduction.”

According to Yanagi, reaction from customers at the show when seeing
the native Final Cut Pro support was positive, with words like “amazing”
and “awesome” heard frequently.

For many colleges and university athletic departments Apple Final Cut
Pro is a mainstay, delivering powerful editing capabilities for less
than $1,000. Coupled with the $3,995 GY-HM100 users have a system for
less than $5,000 that can become a true workhorse across campus. The
.mov files created in-camera can be dragged onto the NLE timeline without
conversion or rewrapping. The camera also stores files in the ISO Base
Media File Format (.MP4), compatible with all major non-linear–editing
systems.

The $3,995 GY-HM100 ProHD camcorder, JVC delivers records at 1080p,
720p, and 1080i on affordable SDHC Class 6 memory cards. With three
progressive-scan CCDs, a newly designed 1080p digital signal processor,
and JVC’s proprietary 35-Mbps MPEG-2 encoder, the GY-HM100 records
full 1920×1080 images in the HQ mode and can also record 720p (19/35
Mbps) and 1080i (25 Mbps) in SP mode, ensuring compatibility with professional
NLE systems.

The GY-HM100 also records to dual SDHC Class 6 memory cards, allowing
up to 64 GB of on-board storage — enough for up to 6 hours of continuous
HD recording. The added benefit of dual memory slots is that less expensive,
smaller-capacity cards can be used, while still offering the combined
longer recording time.

The use of SDHC Class Six Flash Memory cards cuts the cost of recording
on solid-state media substantially, with 16 GB cards that can capture
55 minutes of material at 35 Mbps priced between $40 and $90. Panasonic
introduced a 32 GB version, doubling that recording time to nearly two
hours.

“The low cost of the cards allows them to become consumable items
that can be archived,” adds Yanagi. “The challenge is their small
form factor.” JVC has created an index card sleeve to help users keep
track of the cards.

JVC’s products fulfill the promise of affordable professional-quality
acquisition first laid out by the DV format. “DV changed the dynamics
of professional video because people could not tell the difference between
DV and video acquired natively on Betacam SP,” says Yanagi. “And
now with nonlinear editing systems offering high-quality editing at
a fraction of what system’s used to cost the differences are indistinguishable
unless the material is on a high-quality monitor.”

The University of Mississippi was front and center at JVC’s NAB booth
as JVC displayed three GY-HD250U progressive scan HD camcorders with
22x box lenses that the university has purchased.

“NAB attendees approached us with reduced budgets so they have to
become much more smarter and frugal and make smarter decisions,” says
Yanagi. “From my perspective, a smart and elegant solution is offered
by JVC through our new camcorders which incorporate key technologies
supported by Apple, Fujinon, Canon, Anton/Bauer, Panasonic, and Sony.”