Sony HVR-HD1000U: Twenty Pics

[Ethan Cooper]

Single chip doesn't bother me at all. The HV20 is single chip and still produces a nice image, heck the RED ONE is single chip for that matter. For me it's the aparent lack of manual control and the large form factor with little substance. But again, this is my opinion without any concrete evidence of what this camera can do.

[Chris Hurd]

Single chip RGB equals three chip... remember this is a low-end solution for entry-level videographers, schools, etc. -- you don't have to like it, but keep in mind that it's definitely not intended for everybody. There's a niche market that needs a low-cost HD camcorder with shoulder-mount ergonomics. That's all this is.

[Ethan Cooper]

Chris,
18,000 + posts? Are you serious? How is that even possible? Do you have DVINFO hard wired into your brain and each time you think of something it posts? Good lord that's a lot of typing.

Here's something I've been wondering; My FX7 has 3 CMOS chips, but with CMOS technology do 3 chips really help?

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Ethan, I put DV Info Net's message boards online 2,212 days ago (six years and 22 days, that is), so that works out to just a little over eight posts per day. We're currently averaging about 500 posts per day total, so my input here is about 1.5% of everything that's going on... meaning, if somebody out there prefers not to read my posts, there's still 98 out of every 100 which won't have my name on them.

But this site is my business, so yes I spend a lot of time here.

The number of chips in a camcorder affects color accuracy. Image sensors themselves are monochromatic (color blind), so the sensor type (CMOS vs. CCD) has nothing to do with the number of chips. A single image sensor with primary color filtration (RGB, most commonly known as Bayer filtering) will either closely match, equal, or sometimes excel in comparison to three-chip systems with regard to image color. Hope this helps,

[Ethan Cooper]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Hi Ethan, I put DV Info Net's message boards online 2,212 days ago (six years and 22 days, that is), so that works out to just a little over eight posts per day.

Well now that you put it that way, I guess 18,000+ posts doesn't seem that bad. I knew you were the big cheese behind DV Info, but somehow I didn't know it had been around for 6 years.

A single image sensor with primary color filtration (RGB, most commonly known as Bayer filtering) will either closely match, equal, or sometimes excel in comparison to three-chip systems with regard to image color. Hope this helps,

It does help. So am I correct in understanding that a 3 chip CMOS design offers little over a 1 chip CMOS design other than marketing speak? Or does the fact that my camera records HDV (or any recording format for that matter) and not a Bayer pattern mean that 3 chips still provide an advantage over single chip designs?

[Chris Hurd]

Bayer pattern simply refers to the color filter mask that overlays the image sensor... so an HDV camcorder is in fact recording it (if we were talking about a one-chip HDV camcorder that is), since it lies on top of the chip and all light coming in from the lens must pass through this filter. If the color filter wasn't there, then the sensor would provide only a monochromatic image, since it doesn't know what color is.

Of course there's no Bayer pattern color filter in your three-chip camcorder, but that has nothing to do with the format that your camera records, whether it's HDV or something else, that's unrelated to the difference between one-chip and three-chip color accuracy.

Bayer pattern RGB color filter is one way (the most common way) to assemble color information using primary colors. Consider that outside of a few notable exceptions, most all digital still cameras use single-chip RGB; there's no such thing as a three-chip digital still camera (there was at one time, but they were rare even then).

In the recent past, most consumer single-chip video camcorders used a complimentary (CMY) color filter, which was inexpensive and relatively free of noise, but not nearly as color accurate as single-chip RGB or three-chip.

Three sensors (one each for Red, Green and Blue color) is the same color accuracy as an RGB color filter, but the multiple chip layout provides an opportunity to boost image resolution through an excellent process called Pixel Shift (which is impossible on a single image sensor because it needs two or more sensors to work).

So the question of "which is better, three sensors or just one with RGB," is a loaded question because the answer depends on a number of variables, such as the cost, size and native resolutions of the sensors; whether or not Pixel Shift is utilized; how effective the image processor is; and other things.

Some single-chip systems easily outperform three-chip systems, while others might be equal and still others might be clearly inferior. Bottom line, all you need to think about is, do you like the picture you're getting. That's all that matters. Forget the technical junk. How does the camera feel in your hands, and do you like the image you're getting. Everything else is meaningless in comparison to these two key considerations. Hope this helps,

[Ethan Cooper]

I never considered pixel shift as a reason to incorporate 3 CMOS chips in a camera design. Good point.
Thanks for the detailed breakdown of this discussion. I'm also glad I could help keep you on pace for your 8 post per day average.

[Colin Zhang]

The product brochure is out: http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan..._broch9-07.pdf

[John Bosco Jr.]

Originally Posted by Colin Zhang

The product brochure is out: http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan..._broch9-07.pdf

I like the image that my HC7 produces. This appears to have the same specs in a more professional package. I could never get use to the handycam style of my HC7, so it appears that I most likely will sell my HC7 and get this as my backup cam. I do hope that there will be manual control of the gain on this camera. That is probably the one thing I dislike about the HC7.