SMALL IN SIZE, BIG IN CAMCORDER BREAKTHROUGHS.

Byline: Rich Warren Chicago Tribune

I lost the JVC GR-DV1 camcorder in my parka pocket.

The tiny digital GR-DV1 heralds a new age in consumer camcorders. Unlike recent semiprofessional digital camcorders from Sony and Panasonic, JVC targets the GR-DV1 directly at you and me. JVC created the smallest, lightest camcorder on the market in the process, with picture quality that surpasses the best consumer analog camcorders. The GR-DV1 is not merely small, it's beautiful.

Digital camcorders represent a whole new video technology. The tapes will not play on your existing VCR. Manufacturers abused the word ``digital'' for years, devaluing its meaning by applying it to partially digital enhancements of analog VCRs and camcorders.

The GR-DV1 is a true digital recorder; like its cousins digital audio tape (DAT) and MiniDisc (MD), Digital Video (DV) converts analog signals to digital computer bits and stores these bits on the tape. The improvement is nearly as dramatic as the comparison between LP and CD.

JVC also uses digital technology for scores of special effects and shooting modes in the GR-DV1. This camcorder works as a digital still camera for taking snapshots. You can print these with an optional video printer. And the resulting snapshot prints look about as good as Instamatic prints.

The GR-DV1 weighs a scant 1.1 pounds, including tape, lithium-ion battery and hand strap. It measures 1 11/16 inches by 5 13/16 inches by 3-1/2 inches, which is smaller than a paperback book. The digital tape cassette records for one hour, and is half the size of an 8mm video cassette. JVC advertises the price of the GR-DV1 camcorder as $2,995.95, but the actual retail price hovers around $2,600 (or less). That's about $1,000 less than the competing Sony and Panasonic semipro digital camcorders, and only slightly more than top-of-the-line Hi8 and Super-VHS analog camcorders. The one-hour DV tapes cost between $15 and $20, about 50 percent more than comparable Hi8 8 mm tapes.

JVC loaned me a preproduction handmade GR-DV1 for a recent trip to Sweden. It traveled inside my small camera bag nestled with my large Canon EOS A2E SLR 35 mm still camera. I've never managed that with any other camcorder. Even the GR-DV1's rechargeable battery is barely larger than a conventional AA cell, while its charger (which can recharge two batteries simultaneously) is almost the size of the camcorder itself. I mercilessly banged around this fragile sample, which had been through a dozen hands before me, and it continued performing without a problem.

JVC loads the camcorder with every conceivable feature ever built into a camcorder, and some innovations as well. All features are accessed and enabled from multiple menus seen in the color viewfinder. A small external LCD display shows the selected mode, tape time and battery life. You control all features and modes from a pair of small thumbwheels with light-touch buttons in their centers, a menu button on top, a small up/down slide switch that toggles the zoom lens, and a small button on the opposite side of the camcorder for taking snapshots.

The easy-to-operate controls suffer only one minor flaw: The buttons at the center of the thumbwheels accidentally can be pushed too easily. The other small drawback is the color viewfinder, which although visible in bright light, looks grainy and lacks resolution.

The GR-DV1 operates in the vertical position, unlike most point-and-shoot still cameras. You can easily hold and steady the camcorder with two hands for maximum shooting stability, or be wildly reckless and single-handedly shoot while being able to operate all the controls. The lens and viewfinder are in line on top of the camcorder. Digital technology multiplies the 10-power optical zoom to 100-power.

To begin recording, you slide the viewfinder back toward you, which automatically opens the lens cover and reveals the menu button. Then simply rotate the top thumbwheel to record and press the stop/start button at its center. The camcorder automatically adjusts all settings with impressive accuracy. You instantly can begin recording out of the box (assuming the battery is charged) without reading the instruction manual. Through trial and error, you also can figure out many of the features without reading the manual, although I highly recommend perusing the manual to fully benefit from the GR-DV1's wealth of features.

Because it records digitally, the camcorder offers an amazing ability found on no analog model. You can add certain special effects and picture adjustments after recording. So if you make an error, you may be able to correct it on playback. The GR-DV1 performs wonderfully. It captures fully saturated bright colors, and even colors in dim light, without video noise.

On a visit to the gardens of Gamla Linkoping in Sweden, every hue of flower, from the blue pansies to the yellow daffodils to the red tulips, looked natural on playback. Reds usually cause problems for analog camcorders. Low-light sensitivity is amazing. I recorded a choir in a dark church, zooming in from the back of the church. The picture was clear and bright, although the auto-focus takes a bit longer in dark settings.

The GR-DV1 captures these videos using an advanced 1/3-inch, 570,000-pixel CCD imaging device. That CCD offers superior resolution to the CCDs in most other consumer camcorders. However, JVC uses a single CCD in the GR-DV1, while Sony and Panasonic use three CCDs in their semipro consumer models. The Sony and Panasonic do record better videos than the JVC, but at considerable expense in both cost, size and weight. RCA markets a JVC-made model nearly identical to the GR-DV1.

The GR-DV1 also works as a digital stereo audio recorder with the choice of different digital audio formats. That increases versatility for adding or changing the soundtrack after recording, and even recording four channels.

JVC provides a docking station for home playback. The camcorder snaps into a tray that contains all necessary standard analog audio/video input/output jacks, including ``S-video,'' duplicate playback controls, remote control and connection to the AC battery charger/power supply for powering the camcorder and simultaneously recharging the battery while it is still inside the camcorder. This makes the GR-DV1 a cinch to use at home.