Bluetooth-enabled JVC Everio GZ-HM550 released for $800

Posted by Charbax – March 19, 2010

Category: Cameras

Slowly seeing some of the wireless features I want in my next camcorder as I wrote in my Next Camcorder Wish-List, the new JVC Everio GZ-HM550 ads a few interesting Bluetooth features:

Source: JVC America Press release

1. Bluetooth for a Headset to monitor audio or record voice.
This is cool, but:
– How is the voice recording quality using any regular Bluetooth headset compared to high quality wireless RF microphones?
– Why can’t they sell us maximum quality non-interfering Bluetooth stereo microphones and have at least 2 work for recordings? I’d buy those wireless Bluetooth microphones for $50 each, I wish they would work in high quality and be easy to use. Good quality RF microphones are ridiculously expensive at something like $500 each (tell me in comments if you can recommend some cheaper best ones)

2. Bluetooth remote control and viewfinder on smartphones
3. Bluetooth GPS location (why not include GPS inside the camera? Would that add too much cost or power consumption?)
4. Bluetooth off-loading pictures to the smartphone, this is probably going to be very slow.

Dear Camcorder industry:
– Please add WiFi to upload directly to Youtube the HD recordings.
– Please let Bluetooth keyboards be used to edit Title, Description and Tags when uploading the videos to Youtube.
– Please provide high quality wireless microphones either RF or Bluetooth available for $50 per microphone and at least two shall work at the same time, with easy to use mixer volume control on the camcorder for all the mics.
– Please provide video-recording at very high quality yet low bitrates. Like using the OMAP4 processor from Texas Instruments, which promises to record real-time at close to 2% of desktop multi-pass insane encoding quality, thus reaching pretty perfect 720p as low as 2mbit/s and 1080p a bit higher than 4mbit/s (same bitrates as on Youtube HD). 720p 4mbit/s and 1080p 8mbit/s would be fine to then have Youtube compress to 2mbit/s and 4mbit/s.
– Please provide a processor like OMAP4 to record both 1080p optimized bitrate and D1 for streaming on ustream.tv (and display overlay chat) over Bluetooth Tethering, WiFi or built-in 3G at the same time.