Sony HDR-HC1 Best Price, Review, Compare

Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 8:32 am

Product: Sony HDR-HC1

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I bought this camera and here is my assessment so far:

PROS:

1. Petite. I would very contented with the size when I opened the box as I was terrified that a HDV camera and quality lens would design for a immense camera. No, it's no a exiguous camera, but comparable to most mid-priced bodies in the market. But unlike the mid-market cameras, the HC1 is a HDV power house.

2. Image quality is breath taking. If you are a current parent or unbiased want your images to stand the test of time, this is a tremendous camera to invest in now since the future is HD

3. Feels large in your hand. Solid fabricate and feel.

CONS:

1. Camera is slightly front-heavy. This is not a expansive deal since you will need a bigger batter which balances the weight perfectly (contemplate next comment.)

2. Standard battery is simply not acceptable. Gets about 40 minutes of recording time, if you are lucky. Score the xxx71 Sony battery at a minimum or the xxx91 for extended recording (although this batter is very long and heavy. I went with the 71 and am gay with it.)

3. Memory stick. When is Sony going to understand this is dreadful for customers and they should simply employ standard memory not this proprietary crap?

4. Only 'OK' in crude light situations. Not awful, mind you, and better than 95% of the cameras on the market which all struggle with this, but for a 2K camera, I was hoping for a microscopic better. But again, the outrageous light is acceptable.

5. No firewire cable. This is a must for putting movies on your computer, and the fact that you have to exercise another 40 bucks for it after dropping 2 tremendous on the camcorder is simply insulting. Sony, needs to derive its act together and not cheat its prosumer customers.

On balance, I contemplate this is a grand camcorder and a stout investment in capturing your memories in the format of the future.

Finally, as another poster mentioned, working in HD (and video in general) is definitely easier on a Mac.

My wife who hates technology loves doing video and pictures on her Mac, and easily shares them on her .Mac anecdote. If you are deem this camcorder--or any other for that matter--definitely reflect investing in a Mac too. It makes the post production a ton of fun and a highly creative process vs. "trying to figure basic things out for hours on ruin like her PC experience."

I have had mine for over three weeks now and am very impressed. The simple ability to pick accurate 1080i video is astonishing. I finally have home video I can play on my HDTV and not cringe at the terrible resolution.

The 3MP camera is also quite well-behaved. It doesn't replace a normal digital camera, but I found the shots to be decent. The nice thing is being able to shoot pictures in widescreen mode and play them attend on your HDTV. It is the best plan to concept photos that I have seen.

There are some minor downsides. The bottom loading tape is a injure for tripod filming. The viewfinder is too short when using a sizable battery. The focusing system is a bit tantalizing as it can engage a while to lock. It also takes a while to figure out the stability settings so your video does not leer choppy.

I recommend a astronomical user space at sonyhdvinfodotcom. The user forums are invaluable for idea the nuances of the camera.

Overall, a spacious camera for a very friendly trace.

I shoot those petite movies that serve me to focus the ideas and settings of my books (available on Amazon) . I also beget marketing and training videos for my software business. For that I switched to HD a year ago and bought that Sony HDR-FX1, which is an reliable camera. HD format is always 16x9 and uses higher resolutions up to 1920 pixels. There are many formats and 24, 25 and 30 frames per second in interlaced and progressive recording. Be aware of that.

I fair bought a HC1 and here are my impressions. In my understanding (and on comparison tests) the HD video quality of the HC1 is identical to even the professional cameras mentioned below. But that obviously has to be understood as an electronics feature and not in terms of lenses or usability for movie production. The HC1 objective produces more video noise in low-light conditions.

Why did I recall the HC1:

1) size: people behave unnatural in front of a mammoth camera

2) second camera angle is ideal in some scenes

3) portability: pro quality in any location

4) report quality for later editing

HD prosumer camcorders:

JVC JY-HD10U $2800, larger,

Sony HDR-FX1 3-CCD $3000+, larger, better lenses,

Sony HDR-HC3 not yet out $1000+ smaller, less features

HD pro camcorders:

SONY HVR-Z1U 3 CCD, $4500, smallest pro cam

JVC GY-HD100U 3 CCD, $5000+, interchangable lenses

Canon XL-H1 3 CCD, $9000+, interchangable lenses

What does HD mean to you:

Mostly higher cost and more issues if you want to edit on a PC. I had to use $3000 for Adobe Premiere Pro 2 and a dual-dore processor with 2GB of RAM to beget it work. Derive Cineform's Aspect-HD for expedient editing performance. The best consumer HD-capture is done by the Sony DVGATE software. Sony Vegas is a obliging editing program too. Most HD-video formats can not be played on a normal PC unless you downgrade it to 720x480. Getting HD format onto a DVD is a similar complex path.

Conclusion:

HD quality is pricey and if you don't relish solving problems then PC editing is not for you. Should you seize the HC1? YES! Why? The quality of the unique tape is always the most vital. You can relate in HDV and peruse it on your HDTV. You can downgrade it to DV for PC editing or for DVD and convert it to HD-DVD later, once the equivalent harddisk recorders gather to the market a year from now.

A last tip: The future is harddisk recorders. I already exhaust a CitiDISK HDV to relate without tape. In one year most high-end camcorder models will have harddisk recorders rather than tape. And HD will be the norm and not the exception. But there will always something recent and life unbiased goes on ...

ENJOY AND Characterize IT NOW!

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