hi everyone, i went to circuit city and found both the hdr-sr1 and hdr-hc3 as open boxes for pretty cheap. i bought both of them and i'm trying to decide which one to keep. i guess i care most about image quality, which camcorderinfo gives the edge to the hc3. but it also says the hc3 is lacking "a ring and jacks for third-party audio accessories" as compared to the sr1. i'm not really sure what that means/entails. also the sr1 has dolby surround sound..is that really good? also is there any problem with using regular minidv's in the hc3? i read somewhere that it's better to use the sony brand specifically..not sure if that's true.
i read the previous post about this but it's a little outdated, especially in the hdv vs avchd debate and editing.
so a little about me..i'm new to hd camcorders. i've had an sd camcorder which broke but before that i enjoyed recording and editing videos, making music videos, nothing too extraordinary. thanks!

I've got the HDR-HR3 and really like it a lot. But I'm still baffled by something I just can't find mentioned anywhere. It says "FULL HD" on the camcorder, but darn if I can find specs anywhere stating specifically that it will record at 1920x1080, or only 1440x1080. So you may want to investigate that particular detail yourself if you want a REAL FULL HD camcorder.

Both the SR1 and HC3 are 1440x1080x60i. The "Full HD" is a marketing branding thing and means nothing.

I had a SR1 for the last 18 months before I upgraded to the SR11 and, if compared to the HC3 for the same price, I would choose the SR1 between the two in a heartbeat.

While the SR1's CCI review wasn't that great, I always felt the SR1's picture quality was still pretty good and somewhat comparable to the HDV models of that time. The main peeves they had on their SR1 review were mostly about the AVCHD format and how impossible it was to edit. At that time, it was quite true that there were little options, but things have change in the past 18 months.

I guess it comes down to the AVCHD vs HDV question at the end. You're in a position to try both of them and feel the picture quality difference for yourself. You can also try the workflow on both too, to see if tape capturing is bearable for you and if you can stand AVCHD and HDV editing with your current PC. Ultimately, you'll be the user, not anybody from here or from CCI. :)

Yes, after doing more investgation, it appears that the 1440x1080 is a HDV spec and not really a hardware spec of the camcorder itself. So it appears that if the camcorder uses HDV tape, it will be 1440x1080. AVCHD raises the bar to FULL 1920x1080.

Yes, after doing more investgation, it appears that the 1440x1080 is a HDV spec and not really a hardware spec of the camcorder itself. So it appears that if the camcorder uses HDV tape, it will be 1440x1080. AVCHD raises the bar to FULL 1920x1080.

Starting with the 3rd gen of AVCHD. The SR1 is only 1440x1080.