I been using Sony HVR HD1000P (PAL Version) for 2 months now, some of my personal thoughts for sharing;

PROS:
Very Good in Low light situation with single chip CMOS - Better than 3CCD
(I assume no one will shoot video in total dark if 'PAID JOBS" )
Affordable pricing for A/B cam setup (Multiple Cam setup)
Long hours of Recordings even with Wide LCD screen turn on
Looks professional on shoulder mount cam.
Excellent quality in HD1080 and SD DV setting

CONS:
Slow in manual focusing (need turn ring few round only get object in-focus)
Slightly front Heavy even put on Battery NPF970 (If install -ON Camera Light).
Eye-piece unit (viewfinder very near to body cam even fully adjusted
(Don't think can use my ear-piece microphone when shooting on shoulder)
Too plasticizing feeling when holding

Conclusion:
Excellent HD/SD video quality with Single CMOS Chip from Sony.
What you pay, what you get, Great Value of money for this pro-cam.

You say the single 1"/3 CMOS is better than 3 CCD in low light Andrew, which surprises me. I always reckoned the HD1000 you have is a rehoused Sony A1, and that falls miles behind the Z1 in the gloom.

tom.

(I assume no one will shoot video in total dark if 'PAID JOBS" )

You don"t do weddings I think :) in total darkness no camera will perform but with only candlelight I really want to put my vx2100 next to your hvr-hd1000.
If it would perform better I would buy one tomorrow, even with all the disadvantages it has but I highly doubt that this is the case.
I thought this camera was a rehoused HDR-HC7?

Well guys,
1st, I must said "Totally NOT FAIR " If you compared HVR-HD1000 with Sony HVR-Z1U which is cost USD$5000 VS.. HVR-HD1000 USD$1600!.

With budget of USD5k, That's will make me to buy SONY PMW-EX1 XDCAM 3 chip CMOS rather than Z1U! so from the pricing wise, i don't think we should compared this two camcorder.

2nd, from the point of view, i owned Canon 3CCD XL1s which is SD format, In video Resolutions wise, i think SD will never get a better video quality than HD!

Again SONY vx2100 (in SD FORMAT) still cost few hundreds bucks more!

2nd, from the point of view, i owned Canon 3CCD XL1s which is SD format, In video Resolutions wise, i think SD will never get a better video quality than HD!

Again SONY vx2100 (in SD FORMAT) still cost few hundreds bucks more!

Andrew, you stated earlier: "Very Good in Low light situation with single chip CMOS - Better than 3CCD"

You didn't compare sd to hd, you just said it performed better then a 3ccd cam in low light conditions and the vx2100 is a 3ccd cam. Think you should have based your comparison with a specific cam and not generalize it to "3ccd". Think that Tom based his reaction on the same arguments as i did and that's the way you described it.

Also, the vx2100 is not produced anymore but you can still buy it in Belgium for about the same price as the HVR HD1000

Noa Put,
You're right, maybe little bit confusing here, i found that HVR-HD1000 is affordable so far for pro-entry-level videographers who willing to switch from SD to HD format!

Noa Put,
You're right, maybe little bit confusing here, i found that HVR-HD1000 is affordable so far for pro-entry-level videographers who willing to switch from SD to HD format!

When I first saw the HVR-HD1000 I thought I'd found the holy grail, until I saw what it was based on and what lack of good manual control it had.

If only they would have added decent manual control I might have considered this one as b-cam, but assigning all important controls to one ring is quite ridiculous. Also I read here a comment from a user who noticed that the camera had problems displaying the whites of a weddingdress right as it was overexposed but the rest of the image wasn't. This means the camera has problems separating different contrast in a picture. (see http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=119203)
Also it doesn't seem to have an nd filter which makes it even harder then to filter out those bright area's.

As I see it Sony made a mistake making this camera, if they would have made it based on camera's in the Canon xh-a1 range with the same controls but with the housing it has now and in the same price range of a xh-a1 the camera would have been a hit.

If it is indeed the Sony A1 inside a shoulder mount housing then it does indeed utilise inetrnal (and automatic) ND filtration Noa.

SUPPOSEDLY it is a rehoused HC7, which is not bad in low light, better than the A1U/HC1 by a smidge, and less noisy. Since it was released later than the HC7, it likely has some software tweaks so it's similar to the HC9, which is an updated HC7, and a bit cleaner in low light.

Sony really should consider using the sensor/electronics from the SR11/12 with reasonably proper manual controls, THAT would be a nice package.

with reasonably proper manual controls

That's the magic word. The biggest problem is not really the image quality as I see it.