I have to admit, I have been letting White Balance stay on auto or selecting one of the presets - cloudy day, sunny day etc.

I planned to start setting the White Balance manually, but thought I didn't have time so far...

Of course, as camcorderinfo explain, it's easy - you just select the dropper icon on the White Balance menu, fill the screen with something white and press the joystick in.

The HD1 then sets White Balance and many of the problems I have been moaning about with this camera disappear.

It obviously won't do anything for low-light woes, but outdoor footage now looks great no matter what the weather.

Does this eliminate the need to set a fixed shutter speed or apeture for best quality?

Also does it help with the "hunting" the camera does in auto?

Also does it help with the "hunting" the camera does in auto?
What do you mean about the "hunting" in auto mode?

From what I have been reading in the threads, the shutter speed should normally remain at 60. The aperture can still be adjusted for lighting conditions.

As far as white balance confessions go, I have to confess that I just recently started doing it, too. Unfortunate for me. I have a few previous shoots where I did not white balance, and it's a pain in the rear trying to do it in Premiere. Anybody have any easy solutions?

"Does this eliminate the need to set a fixed shutter speed or apeture for best quality?"

"Also does it help with the "hunting" the camera does in auto?"

No - but some of our interest in shutter speed and aperture stemmed from problems that a correct white balance solves.

"From what I have been reading in the threads, the shutter speed should normally remain at 60."

I think shutter speed depends on what you are doing really..

"I have a few previous shoots where I did not white balance, and it's a pain in the rear trying to do it in Premiere."

Some of the things an image loses due to incorrect white balance cannot be regained in post.

Some of the things an image loses due to incorrect white balance cannot be regained in post.
I want to cry. What about this software that I downloaded? http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=456876&postcount=1

Is this not supposed to help and/or correct some of these problems?

Yes, it might help and/or correct some of these problems.

But some of the things an image loses due to incorrect white balance cannot be regained in post.

For example if a small area of the image is burnt out, i.e. white - yes, there would be software that would allow you to tone the white down so it's not as annoying. Yes, there would even be software that would allow you to paint whatever pixels you like over the white areas! But there wouldn't be software to magically uncover pixels that the camera never captured in the first place.