Test Bench: Sony HDR-HC1 HDV Camcorder Review

Videomaker by Morgan Paar Consumer HDV Is Here When Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, announced 2005 to be the year of HD while on stage at Macworld in January, he told the overflow, Mac loyal crowd at San Francisco's Moscone Center, "you guys gotta get one of these," referring to the Sony HDR-FX1 HDV camcorder. The consumer-heavy audience laughed, most probably at the $3,700 price tag on the camera. The other person sharing the stage with Steve Jobs was Sony president and CEO Kunitake Ando, who must have been paying attention. Now, just six months later, Sony unveils the HDR-HC1, a 1080i (1080 lines of interlaced video) HDV camcorder which is rumored to have a street price of around $1,700 (MSRP $2,000) for its July release. As soon as we heard the news, we raced to the phone. Days later, we received the HC1 camera fresh out of Sony labs (it still had stickered notes the engineers had left on it). No doubt, the designers of this 7.4-inch long, 2.8-inch wide, 3.7-inch tall, 2-pound camera had the consumer (and prosumer) in mind. Far less intimidating than the FX1 with its many buttons and deep menu, the HC1 looks, feels and works like a consumer camcorder with a hint of higher-end sophistication. read more..