also announced

The HVR-A1U will be available in early fall for $3,500.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-Professional-Announces-HVR-A1U.htm

It will be interesting to see how the single CMOS chip stacks up against the 3 CCD chips of the FX1.

What is more interesting is the Sony Professional Announces HVR-A1U article. While the HVR-A1 includes the same CMOS chip as well as the same imaging processor as the consumer HDR-HC1, it includes XLR inputs as well as independent control of channel 1 and channel 2 audio which the FX1 doesn’t even have!

So many choices. ;-)

~jr

Yeah, the CMOS chip is a question mark. The article did say that Sony threw a lot of engineering effort to eliminate the noise inherent in CMOS chips. We'll see. It is a 1/3" chip though.

I'm not as concerned about the "single chip" stigma as I once was. After all, digital still cameras are single chip and they look quite good.

John

"so no chance of any depth of field."

Well, Dr. Literal says that it'll have plenty of depth of field. Bottomless, even ;-).

Rob Mack

Oops, I meant to say "depth of field tricks." Yes, you're right, it will have virtually infinite depth of field, whether you want it or not.

John

USB 1.1? Didn't that die 2 or 3 years ago?

A 2.7" screen? I was expecting 4" before going the other way. Its one of those horrid touch-screen thingies, too.

And that "Not so Hot" shoe. Brother.

Anybody know the filter size or whether it has side, or (heaven forbid) bottom loading?

USB 1.1: It's only for transferring stills, not a big deal.
2.7" screen: How would they put a 4" screen on that size camcorder?
Proprietary hot shoe: Yeah, might be inconvenient.

Anyway, they're not supposed to replace the FX1 or Z1U.

Here's the Sony Press Release on the pro version:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Model Features First Professional HD Application of Sony's CMOS-based Enhanced Imaging Processor Technology

PARK RIDGE, N.J., May 17, 2005 - Sony is expanding its lineup of HDV™ products for professionals with the new HVR-A1U model, based on a 1/3-inch, 3-megapixel Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) imager.

Sony has improved upon the key attributes of traditional CMOS sensors with proprietary technology, and this innovative CMOS device is also accompanied by Sony's Enhanced Imaging Processor (EIP).

The EIP enables the high-speed processing required for capturing high-definition video images, and allows an HDV camcorder to record and playback high-quality still images. The first professional high-definition application of this enhanced imaging technology is in the HVR-A1U model. EIP technology is also at the core of a new consumer product counterpart, the Sony HDR-HC1 Handycam.

"The combination of a 3-megapixel CMOS sensor with our Enhanced Imaging Processor enables a camcorder to capture and process high-definition video and still images with unprecedented levels of gradation and detailed image reproduction," said Bob Ott, vice president of professional video and audio products for Sony Electronics' Broadcast and Production Systems Division. "Building on our long history of imager and camera development, we're now offering our customers yet another option to choose from among the many diverse HD acquisition tools in the Sony product family."

A Family of HDV Products for Professionals

The new HVR-A1U HDV camcorder complements Sony's first entry into the professional HDV market, the HVR-Z1U. Introduced last fall, more than 37,000 units of Sony HDV products have already been delivered to customers worldwide.

The new HVR-A1U model now offers professional videographers another option for the capture and playback of HD images. The HVR-A1U offers many of the same features as the HVR-Z1U, such as balanced audio, XLR inputs, SMPTE timecode and a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar® T* Lens.
However, its smaller footprint makes this camcorder ideal for applications where space is at a premium or extreme mobility is required. For example, potential applications may include mounting on a skydiver's helmet or placement on the hood of a racecar.

Sony's CMOS sensor produces natural and rich tones for both light and dark areas of an image. To achieve wide dynamic range, EIP technology employs an algorithm that separates image data into its texture patterns and brightness components.

CMOS-based technology helps eliminate the presence of smear, which is created by vertical bands of bright light stretching from the top to the bottom of an image's "bright areas" and occurs when something extremely bright like a pin-point light source is shot.

Sony has reduced the size of the transistors within an image's pixel matrix, allowing for a larger area of the photo-sensitive portion of the pixel and enabling more light to be taken in than with a conventional CMOS sensor. In addition, the Correlated Double Sampling circuits on the sensor achieve extremely low-noise image quality.

Sony's CMOS-based sensor circuitry runs at lower voltage and consumes less power than conventional CCD-based processors, resulting not only in longer battery life but also allowing for the use of smaller batteries so the camcorders can be smaller overall.

The HVR-A1U can record and playback HDV, DVCAM™ and DV content, with the ability to down-convert footage into standard definition. A wide-screen Hybrid LCD monitor is also included. Other key features
include:

* Still image capture - Maximum pixel size for still images is 2.8M (1920x1440) pixels in Memory Mode. Users can record 1.2M
(1440x810) pixels in Tape and Play/Edit Mode.
* Histogram Indicator - Users can check the brightness of an object and easily adjust exposure by viewing this graphical presentation.
* Tele Macro - This feature enables users to capture a macro image from a distance, especially useful for shooting smaller moving objects, and it also provides the ability to make subjects more prominent against a backdrop and to suppress shadow projection.

Professional Media Optimized for HDV Applications

Sony's highest-quality 6mm videotape, DigitalMaster, is the recommended professional media for HDV applications. These 63-minute cassettes (model PHDVM63DM) use Sony's AME (Advanced Metal Evaporated) II Technology and its unique dual-active magnetic layers.

By improving on an already successful product, the new AME II manufacturing process employs Hyper Evaticle IV magnetic grains, improved lubricants, and a refined Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) layer.
DigitalMaster tape exhibits greater packing density of magnetic grains, higher retentivity, higher output and lower noise. The result is a more robust tape with 60% fewer dropouts and 90% fewer errors.

The HVR-A1U HDV camcorder is expected to be available in early fall, at a suggested list price of less than $3,500.

Sony HVR-A1U Press Release

Like I stated before, Sony plans to win back the consumer, proconsumer market, this just the start of a lot new tech products. The Cmos announce was waiting for Pan and jvc to commit to a design concerning HDV.

Like I stated before, Sony plans to win back the consumer, proconsumer market, this just the start of a lot new tech products. The Cmos announce was waiting for Pan and jvc to commit to a design concerning HDV.

==========
It would be nice if they "saw the light" so to speak by starting a trend back to larger CCD's in consumer cams.

John

It would be nice if they "saw the light" so to speak by starting a trend back to larger CCD's in consumer cams.

I misspoke in an earlier post when I said the new HDV camcorders have a 1/6" chip, it appears that it is actually a 1/3" chip, so maybe the trend has started.

John

I just bought the HDR HC1 online and got it last week. So far, I am impressed with the color quality of the CMOS chip and the ease with which I could stream the video off the camera, edit it and render out a mt2 file back to tape so I could actually watch the final product.

I rendered AVI files and WMV files initially without difficulty. The playback on the computer is quite good but not as clear as on my 42 " HDTV off the tape.

Trouble has erupted though. Some file formats (avi at 1440x1080i, or 1920 x 1080i) are causing a low memory error when attempting to render to a file for the PC. Vegas is choking on it for some reason. I have 2 gig of RAM and cleared the system tray. Still trying to trouble shoot.

are you rendering from an avi source, (CineForm) or from an m2t source?
Anti-virus running?
Looked at the processor while rendering?
HDD's defragged?
Rendering to System or secondary/tertiary drive?
Rendering to what format?
Bus speed?

Odd, I played with a lot of the settings with no impact until I changed the project to 5.1 surround sound instead of the default. That seemed to allow me to render again to AVI (Cineform HD Codec). I changed it back to the preset (HDV 1440/1080 -60i ) and it worked fine. I think the project properties must have had a bug in the VEG file as it works fine now. I was rendering from the m2t source to the HDV 1080/60 Intermediate avi format. Rendering to a secondary drive.

I did use the HDV to Tape tool, worked flawlessly and playback was great on the 42" HDTV.


Playback of the AVI on WM player doesn't have the right aspect radio though (not widescreen). Any way to fix that? WMV playback with no problem and proper aspect ratio.

As far as the system goes, it is a brand new AMD 4400 X2, 2 G RAM, 800 FSB, Nvidia 7800 GT video card, yadda yadda. :)
Trying to work out the bugs before my next project...

Thanks, Douglas.

I saw a demo and had a play with the A1 last week. It is amazingly small - the XLR box on top looks out of proportion, almost half as big as the camera.

One problem is bottom loading tape. We quizzed the Sony rep about this and his classic reply was "Well, this wasn't designed for tripod use." When I said "Oh - the thread on the bottom was an oversight then ...." he looked at me somewhat stonily. A friend who is a bit of an inventor reckons he could make an adaptor plate which would allow tape changing on the tripod, but as it stands I'd hate to be in a hurry to change tapes.

The camera was playing back some footage they said was shot on the same camera, on a Sony HD LCD, and it did look fabulous. When we played with the camera live, there seemed to be some blurring on verticals at least on the monitor whilst panning, but we weren't able to check whether this would come through to tape.

Priced at A$3,600 and including a mini shotgun, a very interesting market entry.

We got our first A1 on Friday, so far so good, haven't really tried it out as yet.
The bottom feeding is a dumb idea, just having to get the thing off the tripod to change tapes is bad enough but you have to go through the same drama to change batteries. That's one reason we were after the A1, the C1 with an XLR adaptor on the bottom is real fun to change tapes / batteries on.
Bob.

I just ordered my A1 today. It should arrive Thursday or Friday. What really sold me on it was this video that someone from Japan had posted here:

http://videosketch.myhome.cx/hdr-a1j/test/a1j-test001.wmv

It's a wmv file so I expect the contrast to be stronger than it is in this clip, but boy does it look good!

Can't get anything at that URL. Would you please check and repost it?