The new Everio G lineup is targeted at younger users, women, people who are making the switch to hard disk drive camcorders, first-time digital camcorder users and those who are looking for a more affordable product.

JVC Sales & Service’s managing director Hirokazu Tamura says research shows that consumers want to take their camcorders with them wherever their go and that while the trend for larger handbags continues, women still want their items in the bag to be light.

“Overall, users’ requirement is to have the benefits of a quality digital camcorder and camera in a lightweight, ultra-compact package that is easy to use, edit and upload, affordable and in more colour options to suite their lifestyle. And they want professional features and functions too,” he says.

“They want their hard drive camcorder to be a tech gadget and fashion statement.”

The new Everio G lineup are available in four body colours – sapphire blue, ruby red, diamond silver and onyx black – and are 12 millimetres slimmer than the previous models.

Besides the new slim design, another feature is the Laser Touch Operation user interface, a touch-sensitive illuminated scroll bar on the left of the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen.

With this, users can just move their fingers up and down along the scroll bar to browse through and select video clips to view, edit or operate the menus.

“The Everio weighs in at just 360 grams, with battery included, for both the 30-gigabyte and 60GB models, and is more than 20 per cent smaller than our earlier models,” Hirozuki says.

Four new models are available – the two 800K-pixel models and two-megapixel models.

Both the GZ-MG330 and the GZ-MG335 come with 800K-pixel resolution, 30GB hard drive space and 35X optical zoom. However, the GZ-MG335 comes with an Everio Dock.

The GZ-MG335 is only available in diamond silver, but the GZ-MG330 is available in silver, sapphire blue and ruby red.

Also available are two models with a 1.07-megapixel charged coupled device (CCD) and 32X optical zoom. The GZ-MG435 comes with 30GB space while the GZ-MG465 comes with 60GB space and both are available in black.

All models also feature PictBridge compatibility for direct printing, microSD card slot and universal serial bus (USB) mass storage compatibility and comes with a remote control.

The 30GB models can store from seven hours and 10 minutes of videos in Ultra mode to 37 hours and 30 minutes of videos in Eco mode, while the 60GB model can store from 14 hours 20 minutes of video in Ultra mode to 75 hours of video in Eco mode.

Other features include a 2.7-inch widescreen LCD, Auto-LCD Backlit control for better LCD visibility when shooting outdoors, a Direct DVD button that transfers footage to the Share Station DVD burner or DVD on a PC, Direct Back-Up button that backs up recordings to a PC, and basic editing functionalities such as re-arranging scene playback order and a choice of up to 20 preset title screens.

Picture quality is aided by the use of an F1.8 Konica Minolta lens and JVC’s proprietary Gigabrid Engine that integrates noise reduction technologies to improve signal-to-noise ratio by about 30 per cent.

The JVC Data Battery allows the remaining recording time to be displayed on the LCD even when the camera is off and the camcorder can be switched on or off by simply opening or closing the LCD. Quick Restart starts recording about one second after the LCD is re-opened.

Additionally, the Everio G Series comes with several software for Windows, including CyberLink PowerProducer 3NE for authoring DVDs, PowerDirector 5 NE Express for editing and PowerCinema NE for Everio to browse camera content and enable the Direct DVD/Direct Backup functions.

Also launched is the slim Everio Share Station DVD burner, the CU-VD3, which can be placed horizontally or upright. The GZ-MG330 is priced at RM1,999 while the GZ-MG335 is priced at RM2,199.

On the other hand, the GZ-MG435 is priced at RM2,399 and the GZ-MG465 is priced at RM2,699. The CU-VD3 is priced at RM699.

All the products are expected to be available soon.