Anyone heard of New Sony Camcorder Models?

[Dan Eggleston]

Has anyone one seen or heard anything about new DV camcorder models coming out in 2002 by Sony? I'm very close to making a purchase...2 weeks...and have been going back and forth beetween the VX2000 and TRV900.

I have been web surfing as much as possible and foud the post below. It mentions a newer version of the TRV900 coming out in Europe and sure to follow in the U.S. If there are new models in the very near future, would I be smart to wait and see if the existing models come down in price, or do they usually price the same and the newer models just cost more? I've only been searching for a couple of months. Many of you have seen the market grow over the years and may have some insight to my question.

Here is the post I found at Yahoo groups Digital Video Cameras:

> Confirming a rumor we ran on March 4th
> <http://www.camcorderinfo.com/display.php3
> <3D"http://www.camcorderinfo.com/display.php3"> ?
> display=3Drumor_trv950_03_04_02>,
>
> Sony Switzerland quietly announced the DCR-TRV950E, a replacement for
> the popular DCR-TRV900 on March 19th at a press conference at the
> Sony headquarters. A very reliable source in Switzerland who prefers
> to remain anonymous sent us this news with many details on the
> camcorder.
>
> We have almost every detail on the new camcorder which replaces the
> very popular DCR-TRV900. The DCR-TRV900 has been out for three years,
> but still remains one of the most popular three chip camcorders out
> there. This release is arguably the most anticipated camcorder
> announcement releases since the VX2000.
>
> The DCR-TRV950E is the European version of this new camcorder, which
> will almost certainly be released in the U.S. with similar specs a
> few months after it is released in Europe. The camcorder has three,
> Mega Pixel (1,070,000) CCDs. No other three CCD camcorder on the
> market today has CCDs at such high of a resolution. This is really a
> revolutionary, ground breaking step in camcorder development. The
> camcorder includes a 12x optical zoom.
>
> For digital stills the camcorder includes a Memory Stick slot and can
> save stills at a maximum resolution of 1152 x 864 pixels. The
> camcorder has a USB slot for transferring stills from the camcorder
> to the PC. The camcorder also has a built in flash and an intelligent
> accessory shoe.
>
> The camcorder includes the new MPEG-X feature. Previously, there were
> recording limits on the number of seconds of video that could be
> recorded in MPEG format to the Memory Stick, however the MPEG-X
> feature allows for unlimited (up to the Memory Stick's capacity)
> recording of video. Sony did not specify what resolution the MPEG
> videos were recorded to the Memory Stick at.
>
> As for other enhancements, the camcorder now has Bluetooth
> capability, similar to that includes on the DCR-PC120BT and other new
> Sony models. The Bluetooth wireless connection allows the camcorder
> to connect to other Bluetooth devices, and when used in conjunction
> with a Bluetooth enabled phone or the normal, land line phone adapter
> the camcorder can surf the web and send and receive email with both
> still and MPEG video attachments. The camcorder also includes the USB
> streaming feature which has been added to other new Sony camcorders.
> The USB streaming feature makes it easy to use the camcorder as a web
> cam via the USB port.
>
> The camcorder also includes playback zoom, the ability to zoom in on
> parts of a video during playback. The camcorder has 6-hours of
> continuous recording capability using a new battery type NP-QM91.
> Currently we don't have any details on the new battery type however.
> The camcorder includes DV in/out and all the standard connections.
> The camcorder also includes hologram autofocus, a more accurate
> autofocus that is able to zero in on difficult, low light and low
> contrast objects. To our knowledge, hologram auto focus has not been
> included on any Sony camcorders yet, however it has been included on
> Mavica digital still cameras.
>
> The camcorder has a reported price of 5000 Swiss Franks which is
> about $3,019.69 U.S. Dollars. We don't know for a fact but this is
> most likely the manufacturer's suggested retail price and not the
> actual price that the camcorder will sell at, because it is
> particularly high. The camcorder is expected to be released in June
> of 2002 ---

[Chris Hurd]

It's official...

---------------------------------------------------------

TRV950 has finally been announced in Japan,
Will be released on June 10th, price not yet determined.

- 1/4.7" 1.07M pixel CCD x3
Effective pixels: Video-690,000x3, Stills-1,000,000x3

- Optical Image Stabilization, 12x Optical Zoom
F=3.6-43.2mm, f1.6-2.8
35mm equilvalent: Video 49-588mm, Memory Stick 41-492mm

- Stills: 1152x864
MPEG1 movie capability

- Shutter 1/4-1/10000; Filter size 37mm; 15 lux

- 3.5" 246,000 pixel Touch Screen LCD
Allow focus+Exposure spot selection by touch in LCD
0.44" 180,000 pixels viewfinder

- BlueTooth

- Built-in Flash, pre-flash mode

- ?"Holograhic AF"

- Custom presets, Zebra, Guide frame
- Can be used as PC Camera via USB

- Use InfoLithium M series batteries
8.4/7.2v Consumption:4.9W (no LCD)

- 93x99x202mm 970g (without batteries)

Japanese URL:
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200204/02-0404/