I cannot believe I totally missed this the last few days, but JVC has announced that, along with their new hard drive camcorders, they are also adding five new MiniDV digital camcorders as well. The GR-D350, GR-D370, GR-D395, GR-D396, and the GR-D650 are pretty standard, with nothing amazingly innovative. However, the top model, the GR-D650 does feature a tele mode with a 1.3x built-in converter, and is, to my knowledge, the first consumer-end camcorder with a still shot of more than 1 megapixel to have over 12x optical zoom (it has 15x). I could be wrong, though.

The GR-D350, GR-D370, and GR-D650 are already out, and you can expect the GR-D395 and GR-D396 to be available sometime this month.

Here is the data from the press release.

GR-D350:

* 32x optical /800X digital hyper zoom
* 1/6-inch 680,000 pixel CCD
* 2.5-inch LCD color monitor
* Super High-Band Processor with 520 lines of resolution
* NightAlive (for low-light shooting)
* 90-minute Data Battery
* Color viewfinder
* Web-camera function (via IEEE 1394)
* DV input/output
* Wide (16:9) Mode
* Power-Linked Operation
* Multi-language on-screen (4 Languages)
* Auto button
* Approximate Retail Price: $300
* Available: February 2006

GR-D370 Adds:

* Live Slow
* High Quality Wide (16:9) Mode
* Auto Illumi-Light
* Digital still capture
* SD/MMC card slot
* Multi-language on-screen (7 Languages)
* Approximate Retail Price: $330
* Available: February 2006

GR-D395 Adds:

* Full function remote
* Three-hour data battery
* Approximate Retail Price: $370
* Available: March 2006

GR-D396 Adds:

* Two 90-minute data batteries
* Approximate Retail Price: $380
* Available: March 2006

GR-D650 Adds:

* 15x optical /700X digital hyper zoom
* 1/5-inch 1.3 Megapixel CCD
* Tele Mode (1.3x)
* Digital Still Capture (1280 x 960)
* Super High-Band Processor with 540 lines of resolution
* Megabrid Engine
* Low Light Plus (F1.2 lens & 3D Noise Reduction)
* Approximate Retail Price: $450
* Available: February 2006