Shoot Your Own HDTV Movie

[Gregg Lengling]

NEW YORK - Sooner or later, high-definition TV sets will become the standard in most homes. At least that's long been the hope of broadcasters, electronics manufacturers and the Federal Communications Commission.

It is the FCC that has recently laid down the law, saying that all over-the-air TV broadcasts must be in high-definition digital format by 2006. And starting next year, all TV sets larger than 36 inches must include a digital tuner that is capable of receiving HDTV broadcasts. That rule applies to all TV sets 13 inches or larger by 2007.

 
 JVC's GR-HD1 high-definition video camcorder
 
But as we've seen over the years, the TV isn't simply for watching TV anymore: We have DVD players for watching movies. Some people connect their PCs to their TV sets. And many have a video camcorder for shooting their own home movies, which are typically played on a TV set.

Electronics manufacturer JVC of Japan this week introduced what it says is the world's first high-definition-capable video camcorder aimed at consumers. It is called the GR-HD1, and it is launching in Japan next month and will come to the U.S. in May.

The camera records HD video images to mini DV tape using MPEG2 video compression technology. It has a 10x optical zoon lens with an integrated optical image stabilizer. Inside is a 1.18 million-pixel charge-coupled device, or CCD. A CCD is a type of memory chip that records light images and is at the heart of many digital video and still cameras.

It can record in three modes: HD mode is for high-definition-capable sets. SD mode shoots wide-screen video. DV mode shoots video that is suitable for conventional TV sets. The camera also has an "up converter" function which can convert video shot in the two lower-quality formats to HD format. And it can also convert video in HD format into the two lower-quality formats with its "down converter" function.

It comes bundled with video editing software for the PC called MPEG Edit Studio® Pro 1.0 LE. It runs on Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Windows XP and requires a PC with an Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) Pentium 4 running at 1.3 gigahertz or higher, though a chip running at 2 Ghz or higher is recommended. There is no software for Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Mac OS.

And as most early adopters of HDTV have learned, nothing about it comes cheap. The camera should hit U.S. markets in May for a ballpark price of about $3,500.