Is Sony HDRHC1 camcorder really that good?

[dolica]

I've read many reviews about the Sony camcorder Hdrhc1 and it seems like it is great amature camcorder for HD and quality is unbeatable. I really want to purchase this camcorder but I'm afraid I will regret it. Does anyone have any comments on this camcorder or prefer something else? The street price i found from cnet was bout 1700 and Newegg has it for about 1600 with free shipping... Is that a good deal?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16830179033

 

[gsellis]

HDV 1080i is more than twice the lines horizontally and twice the width vertically. That is about 4 times the picture information over DV. If you have 4 times more info, what do you think

The gotcha here is editing. New editors for Sony, Adobe, Avid, and others now do HDV. The system requirements are high, so to edit, you may need to look at your computer. Not sure about this camera, but the 3 chip HDV Sony's allow you to record in standard DV too or export as DV. Another consideration is that for the interim, you will need to either write your edited product to DVHS, a format that will only play on a PC (or HTPC), or downconvert to MPEG-2 for DVD. If you have a plan on how to play it back, you can then find a fit for software. And when you find software that fits, you can then determine what you may need to do for any computer upgrades, if any, that will help.

 

[HendrixFan]

After considerable research, the HC1 is the one I have settled on for making movies. I dont quite have the money to pay $4K or more for the higher end HD cameras, and the HC1 is supposed to be the best price/performance HD camera. I was gonna buy from Newegg because I only found one place cheaper and that place gets very poor ratings.

http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com/showthread.php?t=2377

Here you will find video clips to see exactly what the camera will do.

gselllis is right about the system requirements. I use Vegas for editting currently, and the newest version supports HDV. I plan on upgrading to the dual core Opterons and quite a bit of RAM (I have SCSI drives ready to go).

 

[Snakexor]

the hdrhc1 uses a cmos sensor, not three CCDs, cmos is much higher quality

 

[dolica]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
the hdrhc1 uses a cmos sensor, not three CCDs, cmos is much higher quality

It is weird that for digital cameras, all the ccd cameras are much more expensive than cmos. Why is it different for camcorder? Thanks for the site for great info. I'm currently using adobe aftereffect and premier for editing. Does premier support HD if I firewire transfer to my computer (my premier is the older version)?

 

[Snakexor]

you sir are incorrect, CMOS is only used in much higher end cameras ie. 20d, 1ds, 1ds mark II, d2x

ccd are cheaper, smaller, and lower quality....the reason cmos hasnt been introduced into the camcorder market is because it requires so much power to transmit the data from the processor to the lcd screen, which is what most people want....where if you lookon a high end slr, the image is captured using a viewfinder....

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
you sir are incorrect, CMOS is only used in much higher end cameras ie. 20d, 1ds, 1ds mark II, d2x

ccd are cheaper, smaller, and lower quality....the reason cmos hasnt been introduced into the camcorder market is because it requires so much power to transmit the data from the processor to the lcd screen, which is what most people want....where if you lookon a high end slr, the image is captured using a viewfinder....

This makes zero sense. The CMOS or CCD have nothing to do with the screen/viewfinder. That is a function handled by the processor. Power is not the issue.

Until recently, CMOS could not handle the task of 30/60 fps from what I remember. That is why they used CCD. They used 3 CCDs as they could use a prism to split the capture task to 3 chips for better color definition. CMOS has better color than the CCDs. But, 3 3/4" HD CCDs can smoke a small CMOS chip.

 

[Snakexor]

please read up, im not calling you out, but im sure you are wrong....and yes, CMOS chips use tons more juice than ccd chips

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
please read up, im not calling you out, but im sure you are wrong....and yes, CMOS chips use tons more juice than ccd chips

In video, we do not run on AA batteries

7V 6600mAh

My other devices run on these NP1

Here is an article for you (and it does mention lower power ) CMOS vs CCD. This one talks about signal to noise reduction progress that has made CMOS progress. But it still is about getting the data off the chip and CMOS has finally caught up. On the HD scene, they are still working on getting big data (like the 12MP chips) with speed. Benefit is power, but the barrier has been speed and noise.

 

[Snakexor]

too bad that battery doesnt fit the hc1....you need this http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSH...ctInformation-Start?ProductSKU=NPQM91D

i dont wanna argue with you, or make you look stupid, but heres the facts

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
too bad that battery doesnt fit the hc1....you need this http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSH...ctInformation-Start?ProductSKU=NPQM91D

i dont wanna argue with you, or make you look stupid, but heres the facts

Link missing?
It is not about power in video. Power savings are good, but the view screen and tape drive are the biggest consumers (I almost double my battery life switching off the view screen - I do wonder how the P2 cameras will do). The big thing with CMOS has been low light and data speed. My 3 CCD still kills CMOS on low light, but I expect that within 3-4 years, CMOS will finally catch up. I have a sample on my site, if you are interested, of a rock band in a club shoot with a VX2100. It is still the hand-held low light king (with the PD-170 - same chips (3CCD), same processor).

dolica - You are most welcome to come over to DVInfo's forums here. There is a specific forum for the HC1 and A1 along with links to samples in that forum. There are also forums dedicated to HDV editing as well as a myriad of other video related topics with folks from noob to Hollywood film production. It is strongly moderated, therefore it is one of the most well-mannered boards on the net.

 

[dolica]

Originally posted by: gsellis

Originally posted by: Snakexor
too bad that battery doesnt fit the hc1....you need this http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSH...ctInformation-Start?ProductSKU=NPQM91D

i dont wanna argue with you, or make you look stupid, but heres the facts

Link missing?
It is not about power in video. Power savings are good, but the view screen and tape drive are the biggest consumers (I almost double my battery life switching off the view screen - I do wonder how the P2 cameras will do). The big thing with CMOS has been low light and data speed. My 3 CCD still kills CMOS on low light, but I expect that within 3-4 years, CMOS will finally catch up. I have a sample on my site, if you are interested, of a rock band in a club shoot with a VX2100. It is still the hand-held low light king (with the PD-170 - same chips (3CCD), same processor).

dolica - You are most welcome to come over to DVInfo's forums here. There is a specific forum for the HC1 and A1 along with links to samples in that forum. There are also forums dedicated to HDV editing as well as a myriad of other video related topics with folks from noob to Hollywood film production. It is strongly moderated, therefore it is one of the most well-mannered boards on the net.

thanks...