Sony, for example, has sold an HD camcorder, the $2,000 HDR-HC1, for over six months. Next month, it will release the HDR-HC3 HDV, a more compact $1,700 model.
The HC3, which will be available at www.sonystyle.com, offers 1080i resolution and can connect to new TV's using the HDMI one-cord connection standard. It has a 2.7-inch swiveling touch screen, a 90-minute battery, and a button that shuts down advanced options and just lets you shoot like a happy parent at the school play.
It is equipped with a professional-caliber Carl Zeiss lens, and can take 4-megapixel still photos. Or it can simultaneously record video while snapping 2.3-megapixel stills in 16:9 wide-screen format (or 1.7-megapixel stills in the conventional 4:3 TV format). There is also a "smooth slow" mode that lets you stretch 3 seconds of video playback over 12 seconds — a feature Sony recommends for analyzing your golf or tennis swing.
The camera shoots video on Mini DV tape and stores digital still photos on Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo cards.
Correction: March 10, 2006
A brief report in the Circuits pages of Business Day yesterday about a Sony high-definition video camera, the HDR-HC3, referred incorrectly to its forms of storage. It indeed records video to Mini DV tapes, in addition to storing digital still photos on Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo cards.
