"The ability to have nearly equal light transmission (T-stop) over the whole range is someting I find so many folks don't consider."

Absolutely agree, hence why I brought it up again.

"By the way, folks might be surprised who JVC buys the CCDs from."

Is it Sony? I am pretty sure JVC buys the CCD blocks for the DV500/DV5000/DV5100 from Sony (the same half in block that went in the DSR350).

Naw, I was just kiddin'

It seems that Sony and JVC have an interesting relationship. They compete--yet they seem to work together. You'll note that JVC calls 1394 i.LINK which is Sony's name. They do HDV together. And yes, Sony has sold JVC CCD blocks from the days of the 500.

This relationship works well for semiconductors. Typically it can take a year to ramp up volume production. Sony needs so many on day 1 that it is better to sell the small amounts to JVC.