JVC on Tuesday introduced Everio G, a new series of digital camcorders that record video directly to 20GB or 30GB hard drives, rather than tapes or discs. Shipping in August, the Everio G camcorders are broken into two lines, one that records video at DVD camcorder quality (30-minute mode) and one that uses a 1.33 megapixel CCD. Both feature 20GB and 30GB versions as well as 2.5-inch flip-out LCD monitors, a design similar to a MiniDV camcorder, weight, with the battery attached, of less than 14 ounces, and more.
JVC said that the 20GB hard disks can record up to seven hours of video while the 30GB drives can hold up to 10.5 hours; two modes that increase the video storage but decrease the quality are also available. They can play video back on a TV, dub straight to a VCR or DVD recorder, or download video to a Mac or PC for use with video editing and DVD creation software.
JVC will sell the 20GB and 30GB low-end Everio G camcorders for US$800 and $900, respectively, while the models with the same storage capacity but higher definition CCDs will sell for $900 and $1,000. JVC did not have product pages on its Web site as The Mac Observer posted this article.