HDR-HC1 screen grabs
 

Enjoy! ;-)
http://www.sonyshop.c-tec.co.jp/cont.../DSC00003c.JPG
http://www.sonyshop.c-tec.co.jp/cont.../DSC00005c.JPG
http://www.sonyshop.c-tec.co.jp/cont.../DSC00006c.JPG
http://www.sonyshop.c-tec.co.jp/cont.../DSC00008c.JPG

Thanks for the pics...

To me, it looks very "video" and very consumer.
Just a thought!
EDWIN

Well, I've never been a big fan of screen-grabs, because there are so many reasons why they can look bad, and that might have nothing to do with the actual camera itself. So I wouldn't be too quick to make any jusdgements based on screen grabs off of the internet... in fact I think that's probably the single *worst* way to evaluate an image.

It's an HDV camera right? How about an m2t file to look at?

I do not think these are video grabs but still image mode grabs. The resolution of the images is 1440x810 which is one of the modes for still images. I think they made this mode because 1440x810 is 16x9 which means the cmos chip might have at least a native horizontal resolution of 1440. The 810 is then scaled down from 1080 to 810 to give stills that are 16x9 instead of anamorphic. Also the images do not seem to be 4:2:0 but a have their chroma blurred.

I looked at first image. I think it less than 1440, maybe 1280 wide.

The CMOS is interlaced so still resolution could be 540 pixels vertically at most. If it is scaled down from 1080 to 810 then 405 most. Who knows how much is compressed. They record to Memory Stick so they have to compress lot to fit in lot of pictures.

The image would have been 1440x405 if it was not scaled to 1280x360 or something.

I wonder, is camera already available in Japan? Does any Japanese eBay deler sell already?

Radek

These image were shown at Sony dealer meeting in Tokyo.
Sony rep says, the camera was 85/100 prototype.
Screen grabs are shot in HDV mode on tape, then transfered to memorystick duo.
Maybe, that's why the image was cropped.
The image below was shot in still mode. It has full HD (1920x1080) resolution.
http://www.sonyshop.c-tec.co.jp/cont.../DSC00066c.JPG
Radek, It will be available July 7 in Japan.

It's too bad that latest image is from the still image mode. It actually looks pretty good compared to those other images. Of course there is a lot less detail to compress so that helps a little.

This image also has the massive chroma blurring that the other images have. Do you know if this is done in the camera when transfered to media stick or if the images were adjusted after capture by software?

Thanks for the image.

No....that image is definately 1440x810. Open it in an image editor and look at the pixel dimentions. Clearly, it's 1440x810.

So did you mean to say that the image "looks" like the camera only captures 1280 and then interpolates up to 1440?

Or something completely different?

Masahiro cleared it. These stills from HDV footage. I asume 1440x540 pixel 1 field images, probably highly compressed before going to Memory Stick. Need some clips to judge camera.

Radek

I think it will release July 7th worldwide! But I agree, this camera might be good for progressive scan EDTV, but not for full-rez HD.

Radek, no one can get real footage without the camera! I think you won't expect any real footage until 2 days after the official release of the camera worldwide.

So it is being released worldwide on the same day? The Japanese market doesn't get it any earlier than the rest of the world?

We need to contact our "man in Japan" Kaku Ito
 

Thanks to everyone for the advance info.

Kaku Ito was incredible last summer giving us the scoop on the Panasonic GS400 waaay before it got to these shores and he did the same with the Sony FX1...

Advance reports are greatly appreciated!

gosh, this looks pretty good to me
 

reminds me of the still grabs we saw from FX1 last year of the temple, etc. - the colors look good - Chris Hurd's point I think about the RGB filter thingy is well noted and I don't think the single-chip CMOS will be a big hindrance - not at this price point, at least...

I like what I see so far.

I very much want to see more.

That still of the can looks pretty good. I can't see much if any chromatic aberration, and it looks very sharp - none of the 1.33 PA softening. You can see some chroma-bleed around the reds in the can due to the colour space, and there looks to be a little sharpening around the black characters... but I think it looks sharper than the FX1 images.

I can't say the first set of images look as good - but there's likely some field-blending and other interpolation going on, as they're 1440x810.

-Steve