I dropped my Z1 on ground and came to know that it cost me lot of money to repair. Sony technian informed me that the PBC board of i link was damaged. It cost me $1,000 to replace this board. Luckily, recording and playing back functions are normal. Only problem is I could not output the 1080i video from i link port of my Z1 to my PC.

I consider it too expensive to replace the i-link board. In my recent job, I put the tape (shot by Z1) in HDR-HC3 and captured the 1080i video to PC through its i link port.

My question is : is there any video quality difference when I use i-link port of HDR-HC3 to caputre the tape shot by Z1?

If no, I would buy a used HC3 at around $400. That way, I saved $300 and got and extra camera.

There is no quality difference since basically its a file transfer of your video footage via iLink to your computer.

What you lose out on is either PAL or NTSC playback, unless you buy another HC3 of a diffferent format. Perhaps the PAL version of the HC3 can play back NTSC footage? If so, I'd get the PAL version.

I have a PAL HC1 and it downconverts and outputs trough FireWire (I.Link) both 1080i50 and 1080i60 or PAL25 and NTSC 29.97.

I usually use this camera to transfer to computer footage recorded with my FX1 and quality is identical as it's just transmitting digital data.