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This is the first Mini DV (digital video) camcorder we've tested, but judging by their increasing availability at ever-lower prices it won't be the last. Much of the newfound popularity for the format can be attributed to JVC, whose GR-DVM5 CyberCam hits the test bench here.
Against formidable rivals such as Canon, Panasonic, and Sony, JVC has led the charge to lower-priced Mini DV camcorders. When the company's first CyberCam hit the streets in May 1996, it carried a shocking $2500 sticker. Today, the much-improved GR-DVM5 sells for much less, with an MSRP of $1799, and a street price of about $1499. Meanwhile, entry-level JVC CyberCams can be had for under $800.
The latter pricing is likely an attempt by JVC to replace lost sales in the analog Compact VHS (VHS-C) market. That format is virtually dead in Japan, where 80 percent of new camcorders sold are digital. As there's little difference in price there between top-shelf analog Hi8 camcorders and entry-level digital ones, home moviemakers have been opting for the newer technology. Meanwhile, in other world markets, the Sony-championed 8mm and Hi8 formats now outsell VHS-C by about two to one. Reading the tea leaves, JVC made haste to focus its camcorder efforts on Mini DV so as to leapfrog the competition and establish a beachhead in next-generation video.
There is much to like about digital video and, as we found with the GRDVM5, there is much to learn. Compared with analog video, your creative and technical options are much greater in the digital domain-maybe too great. The GR-DVM5 comes with one whopper of an owner's manual, which you should read diligently if you wish to fully exploit all of the camcorder's functions.
These include the ability to record digital stills that can be printed as snapshots or sent as e-mail through a PC. You also can perform sophisticated editing and other functions on a PC through the CyberCam's digital IEEE 1394 output (sometimes called iLink and FireWire, which are actually Sony and Apple names for the interface, respectively). Owing to such digital-todigital transmission and manipulation, there's no generational loss as would be the case with analog dubbing. And even if you're copying to VHS, with its 240 lines of horizontal resolution, the...