Panasonic has a new three chipper. Here's a review...
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/panasonic-3-ccd-pv-gs120-pv-gs200-announcement-01_07_04.htm

Panasonic has an inexpensive (around $1000 street price) three-chipper MiniDV (PV-DV953) that uses 3 1/4" chips. I played with one at Circuit City a few weeks ago and it seemed to produce rather nice images. They also have two other three-chip models, the PV-GS120 and the PV-GS200 at $700 and $1,000 respectively (retail.) These two models use 1/6" chips, which don't perform quite as well in low light, but all the low end camcorders, whether 3-chip or single chip, are going to 1/6" chips.

Here are some rather comprehensive, in-depth reviews of these three camcorders:

PV-DV953 review

PV-GS200 review

PV-GS120 review

John

I had a chance to borrow a friend's Panasonic PV-GS200 camcorder a few weeks back. One overcast day I shot a few seconds' worth of interior and exterior scenes with my trusty old Sony TRV8 (single-chip), my newish Sony VX2000 (3 chip), and the panasonic (3 chip).

The color ability of the Panasonic was much closer to the VX2000 than the TRV8; greens in particular were more realistic and vivid. As I recall, it seemed to have edge sharpening more like the TRV8; by contrast, the VX2000 image doesn't appear to have much sharpening, a look which I prefer. The zoom control was very sensitive and I did not like it at all, though the action could be tamed with practice and/or with the use of an external zoom controller.

The camera was about the size of my little TRV8, though a bit fatter.

You can buy Panasonic's GS70 for $650. It is extremely small, and is the baby version of the 953, and it is a 3chip camera:

http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=product%2Easp&catid=79&subid=4708&prdid=10035979&hierid=4709

You might want to see the thread which contains GS400, which is a 3-chipper which will be introduced by Panasonic on 4 July. Do a Search on GS400.

Or, cut and paste the following:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=281919

I've some experience with the Pana's. I have a 952 3-Chip and I have to say that, in terms of color rendition, I don't think anything else comes close at the price. Comparing it with a pana 910, the color is significantly better and if you take the time to do a manual white balance, is really very good indeed. I have a friend with a GS200 that does almost as well. That said, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of.

First, the 952 is horrible in low loght, the GS200 is a little better but with 1/6" sensors, neither are really good if you don't have the lumens. The LCD panel on the 952 is much better than the one on the GS200, having a much wider field of view and generally a bighter, sharper image. The manual overrides are much easier to get at on the bigger 952 too (that may be important to you). The newer 953 has manual audio which would definitely be of benefit to me but still no XLR. The GS200 can be had for under a grand.

Good luck with whatever you end up with.

Just saw this:

COSTCO
June 14th - June 20th

Panasonic PV-GS70 3 CCD Ultra Compact Digital Camcorder
649.99 - 100 = 549.99