Recording Formats II: JVC CineLine

Among the new solutions offered by manufacturers of video cameras with special features that seek to emulate operations with cinema cameras, JVC presented during NAB 2001, two new models that join the spectrum of options aimed at the creation of digital cinematography. These are the JVC DY-90WCL and JVC GY-DV700WCL camcorders

It is a D-9 camcorder built especially for new digital cinematographers who require the highest possible digital quality in the result of their material, transparent in the blow up at 35 mm, with the versatility of the selectable image aspect and the color resolution with 4:2:2 sampling quality without defects.

JVC believes that digital cinematography is the path in the future of film production and that this wealth will make the materials produced with these characteristics can be successfully achieved, edited and transferred to cinematographic film, through the use of the correct video equipment. This is the concept of JVC's new line of CineLine cameras.

The DY-90WCL CineLine camcorder combines the advantages of 14-bit Cine-DSP technology and the ability to choose the desired image aspect, between 4:3 and 16:9, with a D-9 recorder at 50 Mbps. It is a suitable solution to film production that provides more opportunities for creation and some improvements in productivity levels over production with cinema cameras.

After intensive research in location and studies, JVC engineers quantified the visual elements that make film video different. They incorporated their discoveries into the camera's digital processor, which produces curves and gamut and color matrices that fully capture elaborate lighting conditions and offer a much more natural conversion process to cinema film.

CineLine's technique also makes it possible to achieve much more of the same richness of color and texture of cinematic film within the realm of video technology, indicating that it is not necessary to convert to cinema to retain cinematic quality. The DY-90WCL features three 2/3-inch 16:9 sensors that allow the use of specialized optics such as Prime HD lenses without compromising image quality. In addition to this, the manufacturer is offering a wide line of CineLine accessories such as viewfinder extenders, a wide selection of entities and matte boxes, allowing filmmakers to do their work in a more comfortable way close to the traditional mode of cinematographic work.

It is a lightweight, ergonomically designed camera, available in NTSC and PAL versions. The full professional version includes SMPTE timecode processing, both for input and output, which allows the operator to synchronize this code with electronic clappers or DAT recorders. It offers 4 channels of high quality audio for direct recording whose results achieve a recording quality similar to the results obtained with DAT or NAGRA recording devices.

Under the professional DV format, and perhaps as an applied evolution of the renowned GY-DV500 model, this is the camcorder offered by JVC as a production solution, which has managed to capture the attention of documentary filmmakers, in particular.

The GY-DV700WCL camera is also part of the new CineLine line but in the digital version that uses the professional DV format, designed for operations that require low weight equipment with the option of image aspect selector between 4:3 and 16:9. It is a model that combines technological advances with economy under a recording format that is available to everyone.

Like its big brother, the DY-90WCL CineLine camcorder , it has 2/3-inch CCD digital sensors for 16:9 Interline Transfer, B4 professional lens mount compatible with the widest range of lenses within which the Prime HD series is included, lenses with 16:9/4:3 selector and standard 2/3-inch optics, with the abundant availability of features they have for professional production. The camera offers functions requested by digital cinematographers within which are functions such as Black Stretch/Compression, zebra indication level, Gen-Lock and Timecode, necessary for image acquisition or synchronization with other digital tools. The FireWire IEEE 1394 i/O connection port allows the user to communicate directly with the computer or with a non-linear editing station, to store the information without risk of loss of quality and download it to other digital systems directly from the camera.

One of the most useful tools available to this camcorder is Super SceneFinder, a function that automatically annotates individual scenes while they are recorded, then stores the SSF information in the head of a standard MiniDV tape to do the editing or bacth digitizing work. in a much simpler way. Optionally, it allows you to mark up to 134 scenes or good and bad shots for each video cassette. In addition, the information from the last six tapes is stored in the camera's memory so that it can be deposited in logging software or recorded on a videotape at another time.