Sony HC3 released
 

It's going to be official

http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/21/s...ording-mainst/

I should say announced...sorry
but probably going to be released very soon

And did they really announced it to replace the HC1?

I am new here, but it seems a little odd that they would replace the HC1 with this.

I don't think it's a replacement for the HC1. It's simply an addition to the product line.

Nope.

Contacts at Sony have confirmed it is a ´replacement´for HC1. Hc1 will be discontinued.

On the original news thread on this, it points to Sony hdv forums where I think in numbers upto HC-7. What happened to HC-2.

Hc1
 

If this is true the value of the HC1 should skyrocket!

So, is the HC2 going to be a better model?

HC2??
You mean HC3 yes? Well it´s similar in some respects, but some features deleted etc. More ´'consumerised'. But i expect video-quality to be very good and it will have a much nicer 211,000pixel LCD screen which is about double the res of HC1 screen. No it won´t make any difference to your footage but it will be nice to use.

I think Sony are 'skipping' model numbers just to leave the possibility open to them to bring out updated versions of their cams and slot them in. So they *could* bring out an updated HC1 and call it HC2, or updated HC3 and call it HC4. This is why programmers (in some languages) number lines of code traditionally as 10, 20, 30, 40 etc. So they can insert lines of code inbetween at a later time if they need to.

I suspect that we may see an HC5 sometime later in 2006. This is just my educated guess, don´t read much into it.

HC3 has a denser sensor @4.0 mp up from 2.8 mp so this is a newer CMOS

here a still from the HC3

http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer...s/HC3_15_2.jpg

I thought it had around 2MP, and the 4MP was interpolated, am I wrong on this? Nice still John.


Stu,

I meant HC2, there apparently are a few models coming, and I wonder if HC2 will be a better camera, or the HC4.

G´day mate

Oh right i see what you mean. Yes i think it´s highly likely that Sony have got at least 2 more models in development. I expect to see another model be released later in 2006. Exciting times i think in 2006 for HDV cams!

I don't think the HC1 will be discontinued, just as the A1 won't.

heath

I find it interesting that the Sony guy said the HC3 will replace the HC1, but I imagine that it might be that the HC1 is dropped to aid product separation until a HC2/4/5/6/7 comes out.

At the moment globalmediapro has the NTSC version of the A1 at $2430AU, so that has got to be close to $2KUS (The PAL ones maintain premier pricing though). Is this a general price trend? So maybe the A1 replaces the HC1 for now, with lots of separation between it and the HC3.