Las Vegas, NV (NAB, April 23-26, 2001) - Armed with little more than JVC's GY-DV500 Professional DV camcorder, digital cinematographer Lawrence Janus and an intrepid group of young filmmakers recently shot a feature-length documentary "Raw Deal" which was accepted at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and showed so well it was aquired by Artisan Entertainment , distributors of the well-known "Blair Witch Project" for a "low seven digit" figure.

More and more, today's breed of digital cinematographers are seeing the superb quality that can be obtained by JVC's GY-DV500, a true professional camera with all of the features seen in cameras costing ten times as much. Janus is one such example.

"When I was first approached to make this film on DV, I advised against it," noted Janus. "The mid-priced DV cameras I had seen up to that point were somewhat disappointing. Seeing the quality that the DV-500 produced, however, made me believe that, for the budget available, and with the right lighting and optics, this film could be successfully made without sacrificing quality."

"Raw Deal" is a documentary which covers the events of a Fraternity House party at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, in 1999, and the subsequent events which followed involving an exotic dancer. Interviews were conducted over three months with those involved with the Police case which caused public outcry and divided the local community.

Janus set out with the JVC DV-500, a few 1/2-inch lenses, wide adapters and filters. All in all, he shot over 70 hours of footage on readily available miniDV tapes, and edited using Final Cut Pro non-linear software. "Raw Deal" was shown in its original DV format to the Sundance selection committee, who accepted it for the prestigious, world-renowned film festival.

For display at the festival, the DV footage was upconverted to HDCam, and projected on a 40-foot screen. "Everyone said it looked wonderful," said Janus. "Best of all, this film, shot on a camera that cost less than $6,000 not only made it to Sundance, but it was noticed by executives from Artisan Entertainment who entered into negotiations directly at the festival.

"Raw Deal" will be converted to 35-mm film and released for theatrical distribution this fall. It will initially run in 10 cities across the country.

JVC's GY-DV500 Professional DV camcorder is ideal for a broad array of professional video applications, from digital cinematography to electronic newsgathering and event videography to multi-media production and web streaming applications. The Professional DV line is based on JVC's belief that high quality professional digital video production can be achieved by all segments of the marketplace, and that no professional should settle for consumer camcorders. JVC's Professional DV line utilizes the Mini DV cassette and maximizes the potential of the DV format to deliver remarkable results.

This full-featured three 1/2-inch IT CCD fully digital camcorder offers unprecedented performance in its price range. The GY-DV500 achieves a sensitivity of F11@2000 LUX. The camera portion of the GY-DV500 delivers the equivalent of 750 lines of horizontal resolution and a wealth of professional features, including 14-bit digital signal processing, Full Auto White, Black Stretch/Compression, built-in Genlock, zebra level indicator and JVC's renowned LoLux low light performance. The camera can either be operated in the full manual mode, made easy because of its professional-standard ergonomic design, or, for added convenience, can be switched to Full Auto Shooting. The Mini DV cassette offers over 60 minutes of record time.

"Almost every day we hear stories about how digital filmmakers, broadcasters and web streamers are using the DV-500 to achieve incredible results," noted Juan Martinez, JVC's National Products Marketing Manager. "The DV-500 has become the 'gold standard' by which other cameras in its class are measured. This is a true testimonial to the incredible quality and abundant features that JVC's engineers have been able to pack into a camera that costs so little to own and operate."

JVC PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, located in Wayne, New Jersey, distributes a complete line of broadcast and professional equipment. For more information about JVC's GY-DV500 camcorder or any other JVC products from the Digital Video Division, contact Juan Martinez, National Products Marketing Manager at (800) 526-5308; or visit JVC's web site at www.jvc.com/pro.