The JVC Streamcorder gathered a lot of attention and awards earlier this year when it was first introduced. Was the hype for real? We got our hands on one to try it out.

With a price of $3495, the JVC Streamcorder competes against the 3 chip Canon XLIs and GL1 as well as the Sony VX-2000.

The Streamcorder camcorder is a very nice 3 chip prosumer digital video camcorder with some very sophisticated, professional capabilities and features. It provides 700 lines of resolution (even though DV only captures 500), a 2.5 inch swing-out color LCD to make it easier to compose shots, 14x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, a pair of  pro XLR mike inputs with 48 volt phantom power, audio monitoring (meters in LCD and viewfinder) and volume control. It also offers  color bars, 4 step zebra bars and NF filter. You can dial in and control pedestal or master black, detail, vertical or horizontal detail enhancement (contour correction) options, vertical resolution, auto knee for shooting in high contrast situations, black gain, color matrix enhancement and gamma curve.  The gamma curve control can enable you to fake sort of a film look.  

Additional camera controls include manual and automatic control of shutter, f-stop and white balance. You can dial in f-stop from f1.6 to f16. To help shoot in under lit environments, the Streamcorder also offers video gain ranging from –3 db to 16 db. A special 24 db Lolux mode provides about 16 times the video level enhancement of shooting at 16 db video gain. This means you can get pictures in some very dark places.  The pre-set shutter controls range from 1/100 of a second to 1/2000. To help shoot computer screens, you can also use variable shutter speeds. These range from about 1/60th of a second to 1/2085.

For white balance you can use auto, the preset 3200K or one of the three memory modes. Setting the memory modes involves the standard aim at a white card routine.

Physically, the camera looks like a large consumer DV camcorder, similar to a Sony DX-2000. I found that hat the eyepiece color viewfinder, as well as the 2.5" LCD, were a bit too small and a bit too fuzzy to enable me to confidently focus manually. In addition, the focus ring is right underneath and very close to the onboard mike and wind screen. I also wonder how durable the Streamcorder's plastic body will be and if it will hold up to pro level abuse.

Like other prosumer 3 chip camcorders, the captured video looked good. The colors were very accurate and realistic. Images looked sharp and detailed.

I tested a beta version of the Converter Pack and have mixed feelings about it. It uses a proprietary (but free) MPEG-4 codec to compress the video and then outputs it as an "asf" stream that can be captured directly onto an onboard Compact Flash memory card. By using a Ethernet or a wireless 802.11b radio card, the asf video can be streamed to your local network or computer. The bundled StreamProducer software is deigned to function as a web server and will enable you to serve out your video over an intranet or the Internet. The StreamProducer software used in conjunction with a powerful computer (2.4 GHz P4 and up) can function as a live net switcher and remote control for up to four Streamcorder cameras. The StreamProducer software provides remote control of the camera's taping functions, as well as many of its set-up capabilities including focus and zoom. Unfortunately, there is two to three second delay between the camera's capturing the video and it streaming out to the computer. I expect this to be improved in further outs of the software.

With a maximum throughput of 384 Kbps, you will not be getting full screen video from the converter. You can select from a variety of pixel sizes, frames per second and quality settings. For example, you can capture about an hour of CIF quality (352x288pixel, at 15 fps) onto a single 286 MB Compact Flash card. You can output 352x288 size "asf" movies at 15 fps or 176x144 size movies at 30 fps.

In summary, the Streamcorder is a good choice for those looking for alternatives to the industry standard Canon XL1s and the Sony VX-2000. It has some very nice pro features without the burden of goofy consumer special effects. It's easy to use and creates very good looking pictures. The converter unit is a work in progress but can be useful for those who want to quickly and easily capture video for direct streaming to the net or network.