JVC Announces Hard Drive/DVD/Mini DV Combo Recorder

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JVC unveiled a versatile new digital recorder that combines a 250GB hard disk drive, DVD recorder and MiniDV recorder into a single deck. The new JVC DR-DX5S is ideal for camcorder users looking for a simple editing and DVD burning option or even just a convenient way to play back Mini DV recordings.

The new triple-play deck offers dubbing between any two of its drives for six-way dubbing. For example, it offers the convenience of recording TV programs to its hard disk drive (HDD) for time shifting, and the option of copying the material from the HDD to DVD for archiving. Or, MiniDV footage can be recorded onto the HDD for editing and then the edited footage easily dubbed onto DVD. Or go directly from MiniDV to DVD for archiving home video.

The DR-DX5S DVD recorder section records and plays back the DVD-RAM and DVD-RW/-R formats, and can also play DVD-Video, SVCD/VCD, CD, CD-R/RW, CD-DA, and MP3, WMA and JPEG files on CD-R/RW.

Like JVC’s other DVD recorders, the DR-DX5S includes several technologies that enhance picture quality. A Super MPEG Encode Pre-Processor uses a three-step process that ensures superior image quality when recording from analog sources, providing noise reduction before MPEG-2 encoding. A Super MPEG Post-Processor enhances playback quality through block noise reduction circuitry, JVC’s DigiPure with 3D noise reduction and color and detail enhancement (Color DigiPure), and Hadamard noise reduction to eliminate mosquito noise.

The deck also includes JVC’s Bit Rate Optimizer for DVD recording, which analyzes content as it is recorded onto the HDD and then intelligently optimizes the bit rates – low for simple scenes, high for complex scenes – to provide the best picture quality while taking into account disc capacity.

When recording in the DVD-RAM mode, the deck offers Live Memory, allowing a program to be paused or rewound without interfering with the recording. Also offered is high speed HDD to DVD dubbing (RAM 5x, -RW 4x, -R 8x). Both the HDD and DVD sections record in the NTSC MPEG-2 format, while the MiniDV section records an NTSC DV signal.

For enhanced versatility, the DR-DX5S offers a full complement of connections, including component outputs and an IEEE 1394 terminal (HDD/DVD - DV In; MiniDV - DV In and Out).

The DR-DX5S will be available in October and sell for about $1,500.