JVC INTRODUCES THE GV-CB1, THE FIRST JLIP-COMPATIBLE VIDEO CAPTURE BOX

Las Vegas, NV, January 9, 1997... JVC is proud to announce the GV-CB1, a compact video capture box designed to "grab" images from a wide variety of video sources, such as VCRs and camcorders, using a personal computer*. Since it connects directly to a standard 9-pin serial port (RS-232C), there is no need for the user to invest in an expensive video capture board, which requires complicated installation procedures.

This exciting new product opens up many opportunities for both personal and business applications: captured images can be processed, cataloged, stored in a database, printed, posted on Web pages or sent to friends and associates via e-mail. Also, since the GV-CB1 can operate on batteries, a totally portable setup is possible, with images being captured, processed and sent off via the Internet using a laptop computer, modem and cellular phone. Additional functionality, including software-based camcorder control during capture and video editing, is provided when using JLIP-ready video equipment, such as JVC's award-winning GR-DV1 compact digital camcorder or the new GR-DVM1. Software for both video capture and video editing is supplied on CD-ROM.

*Running Microsoft Windows 95 or 3.1

Video capture software

Using the supplied video capture software, virtually any video image- whether it is taken from a TV, VCR, camcorder, or game console - can be captured to the GV-CB1, which has both S-video and standard video input terminals for wide compatibility. Captured images are transferred from the field/frame memory to the computer for viewing, processing, storing, printing, or attaching to e-mail. Full-size images can take time to transfer (up to 20 seconds in JPEG format or 200 seconds in BMP format), so thumbnail-size shots (80 x 60 dots) are first displayed on the computer monitor for quick confirmation. Once selected, full-size images- 640 x 480 dots, with 16.77 million colors (full color) - are then transferred in either BMP or JPEG format for filing.

The GV-CB1 is also equipped with 3 J-terminals. JLIP (Joint Level interface Protocol) was developed by JVC to enable the interconnection and bi-directional control of AV equipment as well as computer connectivity. When the GV-CB1 is used with such JLIP-ready equipment as the GR-DV1, the capture software can derive time code and camcorder status information via the capture box, while at the same time controlling playback functions. This added functionality means that the user can search through a tape, in either direction, locate a desired shot and capture it - using only the mouse. Sequential interval capture is also available. After thumbnail-size images are selected, the program capture function can automatically transfer up to 99 full-size images into the computer during unattended operation. An extra benefit is that the time-coded thumbnail data can be saved to disk as an index to desired scenes on a particular tape; this saves hard disk space, as the actual images can be transferred later.

JLIP Movie Player software

Also supplied is JVC's Movie Player software, which enables computer-based video editing when used with JLIP-ready video equipment. While watching a TV monitor connected to the GV-CB1, the user can select up to 99 segments of any length and in any order. The resulting sequence is then used for a programmed editing session. Moreover, all of the information regarding the edit points can be saved as a file to be used again if duplicates or changes are required. This same edit-point file can also be used by the video capture software for automatic capture of the images that start each segment; conversely, the index files created by the video capture software can be converted to edit-point data for use by Movie Player. And edit-point images can be printed using the JLIP-ready GV-PT2 multimedia PC/video printer.