what is it and why does it matter the option is 1 or 3 what should i go with

In consumer cams sony and canon use 1 chip 1/3 of an inch usualy,panasonic 3 small 1/4 inch chips.The 3 chips do not meen better pictures as the sony and canon avchd give as good pq as the panasonic model,in fact i prefer the picture of my SR12 to my 3 chip prosumer FX-7.

ccd or cmos? a lot of companies are using cmos, because it's cheaper.

back a couple of years ago, 3-ccds was the way to go, and it still rocks in low light conditions... the panasonic hmc150 uses a 3-ccd block instead of cmos sensors.

there is more to the picture quality equation than just the sensor, though.

so which is better i guess i would have to want to get one for low light but if i find one with no light then should i get the 3 chip or is there some type of necessary benefit to the 1 chip too

Sony uses cmos chips on all its cams up to the 10000£ at least,even cams like the z7 ex 3,cmos cant in any way be inferior.

If it's a consumer camcorder under $1200, then 1 large (1/3") CMOS over 3 small (1/6") CMOS. Go with a single CMOS like what Sony, Canon, or JVC offers.

There are no more consumer HD camcorders using CCDs; Panasonic switched to 3CMOS from 3CCD (either were 1/6" each) while JVC switched from 3CCD (also 1/6") to 1CMOS (1/3"). With the current trends, the future for sub $10,000 HD cams, specifically from Sony, is CMOS. Canon, JVC, and Panasonic still makes prosumer 3CCD HD camcorders. Other than better low light, 3CCDs (and CMOS) benefit from having sensors for the three primary colors (RGB). Consumer 1CMOS achieves colors nearly as good as 3CCD/3CMOS because most use RGB filter arrays compared to complementary color (CYM) filter arrays common in 1CCD camcorders; the reason CYM filters were more common over RGB in the past was because they achieved better S/N ratio, but at the expense of color purity.

just about all cmos video cameras have a big problem called "rolling shutter", so cmos is far from perfect... the only reason that it dominates right now is because it's cheaper than a 3-ccd pickup array.

here is more info on rolling shutter, you'll have to try to shoot around this if you get a cmos camcorder:
http://dvxuser.com/jason/CMOS-CCD/

notice how pro video cameras still use ccds:
http://www.hdcameraguide.com/guide/hi-def_spotlight/sensor-size-makes-the-difference

I agree with OSV....


Rich