I'm looking to change my previous camcorder (Sony DCR-TRV18) for a new and better one and have a few questions... Hope you can help me guys, in my search.

I want to have a semi-pro image quality good enough to be broadcast on TV, if needed but it won't be the main use of it. A friend of mine who works in the editing business ( French version of Muchmusic, MTV in the US...) told me after explaining what I was looking for in a videocam, that I would want a 3 CCD videocam instead of just one. Secundo, the compression of the cam would be as low as possible , like 1 to 4 or 5 or 6. What do you think of that? Any purchase ideas? I want the cam to be HD of course and Mini DV because of the environment i will be shooting in (Lots of vibrations due to an engine, The DVD and HDD are not really good in that case... i get error message due to excessive vibration on the disk)

I read a lot about the Canon H20 ( 1399.99$ Future shop) on the forum, and the 24p image is quite appealing, even i don't know what the result is comparing to a non 24P camcorder. But it has only 1 CCD. I noticed the JVC Everio (1999.99) ( GZ-HD7U) with 3 CCD but it has a HDD of 60 gig... Maybe it's available in Mini DV too?

What do you guys think? Any suggestions i didn't mentionned? Thanks a lot!

I'm looking to change my previous camcorder (Sony DCR-TRV18) for a new and better one and have a few questions... Hope you can help me guys, in my search.

I want to have a semi-pro image quality good enough to be broadcast on TV, if needed but it won't be the main use of it. A friend of mine who works in the editing business ( French version of Muchmusic, MTV in the US...) told me after explaining what I was looking for in a videocam, that I would want a 3 CCD videocam instead of just one. Secundo, the compression of the cam would be as low as possible , like 1 to 4 or 5 or 6. What do you think of that? Any purchase ideas? I want the cam to be HD of course and Mini DV because of the environment i will be shooting in (Lots of vibrations due to an engine, The DVD and HDD are not really good in that case... i get error message due to excessive vibration on the disk)

I read a lot about the Canon H20 ( 1399.99$ Future shop) on the forum, and the 24p image is quite appealing, even i don't know what the result is comparing to a non 24P camcorder. But it has only 1 CCD. I noticed the JVC Everio (1999.99) ( GZ-HD7U) with 3 CCD but it has a HDD of 60 gig... Maybe it's available in Mini DV too?

What do you guys think? Any suggestions i didn't mentionned? Thanks a lot!



The Canon HV20 has 1 CMOS, not 1 CCD. They use different technologies; I don't think you can compare them quite so easily.

The real comparison is 3CCD vs 1CMOS. From what we have seen in the new crop of HDcams, 1CMOS seems to produce better PQ than 3CCD.
BTW PQ from those 1CMOS HD cams does approach that of broadcast HDTV shows.

very in depth explanation of CMOS vs CCD:

http://hdtv.videotechnology.com/HDTV-CMOSvsCCD.htm

bottom line:

CMOS image sensors available today offer the lowest noise, lowest power consumption, 12-bit ADC performance of any HD sensor on the market. These sensors contain photodetectors optimized for low dark current, high quantum efficiency and high uniformity that operate at high HDTV data rates with lower noise than any CCD alternative.

The real comparison is 3CCD vs 1CMOS. From what we have seen in the new crop of HDcams, 1CMOS seems to produce better PQ than 3CCD.
BTW PQ from those 1CMOS HD cams does approach that of broadcast HDTV shows.

1 CMOS cams like Canon's HV10 & HV20 and Sony's HC1 & HC7 captures the full 1920x1080 resolution before HDV compression, but because of the Bayer color filterings, each of those pixels are either red, green, or blue, and has to have the color reconstructed (de-Bayered) liked digital cameras.

3CCD/CMOS cams like the Panasonic AVCHD models, JVC's HDD cam, and Sony's FX1 and FX7 uses three lower resolution sensors. They capture more color per pixel as thre is a red, green, and blue sensor for each pixel, however the green sensor is usually pixel shifted to "reconstruct" the full resolution. In Panasonic and JVC's case, their sensors are about 720x540 or 960x540 and has to be biaxially pixel shifted to get either 1440x1080 for AVCHD and 1920x1080 for JVCs format. Sony's FX1 and FX7 have 960x1080 pixel sensors and are pixel shifted in one direction to get 1440x1080 to match HDV's resolution.

I have both the HC1 and FX1 and do notice that the HC1 is a bit sharper than the FX1, but the FX1 has the overall better picture. Having three 1920x1080 sensors with 1920x1080 recording is not possible in the sub$50,000 range, even pro camcorders using HDCAM format that are $80,000 still records 1440x1080. Canon's HDV cams have three 1440x1080 sensors in their pro cams and are the highest resolution 3CCD cams for HDV.

Wow, that's a lot of information to understand because i know a little bit about videocam but not as much as you, that's for sure.! :o Thanks a lot for the tips, I will now continue my information build-up with what you gave me ( I don't know what a CMOS is so i'll check that first, on the link you provided me and will check all the model number you wrote about to get to know exactly what is the best buy for me... It ain't gonna be easy but after a couple of hours reading on the net I will probably know better what you're talking about... Anyway, thanks a lot guys and if you have other comments or suggestions feel free to add anything.
Now, lets see, CMOS VS 1CCD Vs 3CCD....... :eek:

just get the HV20, the XH-A1, or the XL-H1 (budget permitting), and you'll be straight, oh, and don't forget to accessorize.