Sony HDR-HC1 HDV Handycam: world's smallest and lightest HD consumer cam

Sony's not content to wow everybody with just the unveiling of the PS3 alone, so they're also putting out what's reputedly the world's smallest and lightest HD consumer cam. Like the QUALIA 002 and the HDR-FX1, the HDR-HC1 supports HDV and records in 1080i. At a mere one and a half pounds, your camera bag would be a smidge less burdensome with this thing in tow. Other features include a 2.7-inch hydrib touchscreen LCD, SteadyShot image stabilization, 90 minutes battery life, 10X optical and 120X digital zoom, PictBridge capability, and the ability to snag 2.8 megapixel stills directly onto Memory Stick Pro Duo cards. They're also saying it's the only HD camcorder that lets you take a 1 megapixel still shot while concurrently filming HD video. It's gonna roll out officially in July, though they omitted one of those finer details we'd rather like to know: the price.

Update:

Japanese reader Toshio says it'll be out July 7 for about $1700USD. The Year of HD, indeed.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

For the sake of HD, I hope they re-enabled the "see through women's clothes" feature.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Computer makers have gotta love this - everyone is going to need to upgrade their PC, HDD & software to edit HDV. I hope that the colors are good with only one CMOS chip, though...

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

In another source, the price is quoted as 180,000 yen ($1,684).

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&e=2&u=/nm/20050517/tc_nm/sony_dc

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I'm waiting for a camera like this that stores the information on some kind of external hard drive/flash drive instead of a digital tape.

Does anyone know how this camera stores its video?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

The yahoo story said its resolution is 1440x1080. That'd be really nice if it was widescreen. Even if it was just 1280x720.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Now I'm thoroughly confused as to what is the most Kick-A V-camera coming out soon...

This one, or the JVC --->http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000070032536/

I like the High def thing, but I would enjoy the hard drive of the JVC much more...please comment on which would be the best for shooting video of live plays....!!!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Now I'm thoroughly confused as to what is the most Kick-A V-camera coming out soon...

This one, or the JVC --->http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000070032536/

I like the High def thing, but I would enjoy the hard drive of the JVC much more...please comment on which would be the best for shooting video of live plays....!!!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Ah Sony. Like Jesus thee is.

One day the p shall defeat the i.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

As usual, no precise imaging specifications available from Sony. HDV is a highly compressed MPEG2 file; so how good can the image quality really be?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

More (non-commercial) information on the camera is available here: http://www.videogear.co.uk

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I am a comment spammer: [e-mail]

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

HI DIFINITION TV GAMES MOVIES VIDIO ON HIGH DIFINITION TOO AND CELLPHONES I JUST WOUDERING HOW MANY NEW SERVERS AND FIBER OPTIC UPGRADES OUR INTERNET PROVIDERS NEED TO INSTALL ADELPHIA INSTALED OUR FIBER OPTIC MODEM 3 YEARS AGO AND WE LIKE IT OVER DAIL UP BUT THEY LIMIT THE E-MAIL ACOUNT TOO 5 MEGABYTES I CHEKED THE FUTURE OF FIBER OPTICS 20 BILLION E-MAILS 1 BILLION PHONE CALLS AND 1 MILLION HIGH DIFINITION TV CHANELS INSTANTANOUSLY PER SINGLE FIBBER OPTIC TODAY THE HOLE PLANET USEING ONLY 1% TO 3% OF THE HOLE GLOBAL FIBER OPTIC NET WORK

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

so this camera will shoote 1280 x 720 24f/s?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

just got one, can't wait to play with it! us$1212, bought in hong kong. if you're dubious about the video quality, ask your retailer to demo it live. i put the sony side by side with the jvc gz mc-500 3 ccd cam (the one with the 4gb mini hard disk) and the image was shockingly different. the hd camera was awesome. on top of that, since i use a mac, there is a huge difference between the jvc and the sony...although feasible at a certain level, it is very difficult for the average user to make the jvc play nice with mac's. another issue is image quality on hard disk media. the jvc records in mpeg2, and on the hard drive the compression is set to be even greater than on tape, compromising resolution and quality. net net i went for the more expensive sony; i may live to regret it, but so far, so good. would love to hear anyone else's views.