I'm just your typical user who wants to jump into the HD world and I was wondering if it's worth it to sell my 3CCD Sony TRV-950 for the HC1.

I want to know from all of you experts if it is something that I should do. Again, I am a typical user and at the most, I make small music videos and montages of my family and friends just for fun.

The HC1 has been discontinued and as such, might be a little harder to find. But I think it's definitely worth it to switch over from SD to HD. The difference is astonishing, especially if you are a personal user who probably won't mess with many manual settings. I think the best picture you can produce with your 3CCD camera will not be preferred over an image produced by the HC1 on full auto.

Depends on your system too, what editing capabilities you have available, and so on. Expect to lay out a lot to get system up to snuff. Then there is the issue of how you display your prized HDV project. Do you have an HD display device ?

Ultimately, you will find yourself laying out a lot of dollars to get up to speed.

Hmmmm... Even though I think the HC1, or better yet, the A1U may get a better picture I have to ask... Is there any way that you could afford to keep the 950?
The 950 has a certain character to it that you may not want to let go of it if you can help it. Sometimes there is more than just resolution.
For example, look at the graininess and character in Dancer in the Dark.
So, if I were you, I would see if you can scrape the pennies together to be able to keep the 950 and get an A1U or HC1.

Depends on your system too, what editing capabilities you have available, and so on. Expect to lay out a lot to get system up to snuff. Then there is the issue of how you display your prized HDV project. Do you have an HD display device ?

Ultimately, you will find yourself laying out a lot of dollars to get up to speed.


You bring up a good point. Many do not realize you can have all the camera in the world, but still need the editing cabability. I just recently upgraded some of my own components to meet the HD world. Mainly just the MOBO, Graphics card and CPU. Still only running 2gb of ram but that should suffice for now.

I think I'm up to par...I'm working with a dual G5 2.0 and I'm about to get myself a plasma in a few months or so. I don't use a lot of the manual stuff anyway so I figure I'd go for the gold and get something that 1) looks cool and 2) records in HD.

I think people overrate the need for high-end computer equipment to edit HDV material. I have a so-so laptop with average specs that handles HDV just fine. Of course not the best or even close to it, and I don't use things like Gearshift or Connect HD for Sony Vegas 6.0d, but my laptop can edit HDV fine just the same. Especially if all you're using it for is personal things, I hardly find the need to get your computer up to speed a problem. I'm willing to say most people's current computer is probably just fine as long as it's not super outdated. My laptop is not even a Duo, just a Pentium M. Furthermore, it was the smallest laptop I could find (physically small), so you can imagine that the specs are even worse than some of the bigger laptops, and yet it still edits fine.

Having an HD monitor is another thing, but even without a HD monitor, I find my laptop monitor (1024x768) to be just fine - picture is pretty sharp, though obviously not as sharp as it'd be on an appropriate HD monitor.