Sony's HDR-HC3 HD camcorder leaked
By Evan Blass 
posted January 27th 2006 7:00AM
posted January 27th 2006 7:00AM
We
were so into the HDR-HC1, Sony's portable consumer HD camcorder,
that we included it in our 2005 Holiday
Gift Guide, and now it seems that Sony is on the verge of releasing another HD cam, the HDR-HC3, that appears to
complement the HDR-HC1 as opposed to forcing its ouster. The main differences between the two models seem to be a lower
gross pixel count on the the HC3, but higher resolution stills on the new model, along with a higher-res LCD and
multi-functional control ring. All of this info is based on a leaked document that is supposedly the user's guide for
this supposed-product, so keep that in mind when evaluating the validity of all this.
Where is the surround sound capability?
well, i live in japan at the moment. i just bought one today. guess what? It came with a 5 year warranty. if the warranty has any thing to do with sony products falling apart, you may what to buy extended coverage. Then Sony could wirelessly upgrade your product to fall apart at the end of the extended warrantee period. By that time, I am sure you would or at least should have bought a newer one.
Ralph,
Can you tell us a little more about it, or guide us somewhere w/ a review? I'd like to see how it compares with the HC1 and what accessories you got with it to make it better. Also price if you don't mind.
Shahryar
Is it an underwater recorder?
No - it isn't an underwater camera - it's another model of a consumer-focused HD video camera. We got an HC1 last year to shoot sports highlight DVDs and we love it, but I wish we would have known about this - we would have waited and saved money!
You have to be a little more specific: what do you mean by HD? High Definition? Hard Drive?
By the way, we also learned (after we bought ours) that Scholar Sports (http://www.scholarsports.com) might be giving these away as a promotion if you are interested in using this for sports highlights for high school football.
You'll only need to wait till that camera is 18 months old before it just magically fails. Like all sony products I'm sure it's built to have a mysterious malfunction right after the warranty is up. I know so many ppl (myself included) that this has happened to that we'll never buy another sony product again.
asher - I have owned a 15 year old Sony camcorder, and it still works.
Ofcourse I do not use it, but I have never had any problems with any of their products - nor seen any faults in their products due to warranty expiration.
Best feature - HDMI out!!
i too have owned a sony minidv camcorder for over 8 years and it still works great. Its still used for recording in-car footage in a racecar.
panasonic needs to make an high def version of their consumer level 3CCD camcorders... that's be sweeeet!
It seems people are missing the point here. Check out the size of this thing - roughly the size of a current model MiniDV camera based on the hand strap...
FYI:
HDD = Hard Disc Drive
HD = High Definition