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NY Times Review
David Pogue

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WHEN it comes to attitudes toward high-definition TV, you can pretty much divide the world into three camps. Group A thinks HDTV is the greatest invention since the microwave, and counts the hours until the nation's transition to HDTV is complete. Group B thinks that HDTV is an enormous boondoggle, a bald-faced government-industry conspiracy to milk the citizenry for billions.

And Group C would just like somebody to explain what HDTV is.

No problem, C. HDTV is a new, improved video format. The picture is wide, like a movie screen. And it's so sharp, you can practically count the actors' pores. For many people, one look at the stunningly clear, realistic picture is enough to - well, to push them into Group A.

The trouble is, of course, that switching your life to the HDTV format involves buying all new TV sets, camcorders, VCR's and DVD players. (This, of course, is the part that irks Group B.)

In April, Sony indicated its interest in assisting with this problem by releasing the semiprofessional HDR-FX1 camcorder ($3,300) - a camcorder whose video is so brilliant and immaculate, TV stations and production companies fell head over heels in love.

Unfortunately, the FX1 is much too big to use as an everyday family camcorder; walk into the school play with this on your shoulder, and people will think you're shooting for HBO. What the world really wants - well, the world of forward-thinking picture-quality nuts, anyway - is a high-def camcorder with the size, shape and price of a regular camcorder. Is that so much to ask?

Not anymore. Sony's new HDR-HC1 is the world's smallest and least expensive HD camcorder. At 7.4 by 2.8 by 3.7 inches, it's about a third the size of previous HD models, and small enough to pass for an ordinary digital camcorder. At $1,750 online, it's about half the price of the FX1. And as if price and size didn't make the HC1 distinctive enough, here's the best news of all: it's also an absolutely terrific camcorder.

FOR one thing, it's beautifully designed. It announces its differentness quietly and tastefully, through a sleek, shiny black body. Because it's the first high-definition camera that can be operated with only one hand, Sony thoughtfully put the most important controls right where you expect to find them.

The jacks (like FireWire, U.S.B. and video outputs) are also conveniently placed, in a neat line along the lower-left edge, hidden behind protective doors. The lens barrel is graced by a manual focus-zoom ring - a rarity in consumer cams - that makes possible certain shots that you can't achieve any other way.

Transitional times call for transitional camcorders, and the HC1, like its larger predecessors, offers all kinds of flexibility. For example, it's a so-called HDV camcorder, meaning that it records all that high-def goodness onto ordinary MiniDV tapes, which you can grab at a drugstore for $5 each.

To make matters even more flexible, this camcorder can record in high-definition or standard format. (The flip-out, 2.7-inch liquid-crystal display is shaped to fit the wide-screen HDTV picture; when you record a standard-format, squarish picture, black bars appear at the sides.)

And as a final courtesy, the HC1 can play either kind of recordings - standard or high-def - on either kind of TV set. You won't see HDTV clarity on your 1985 Zenith, of course, but at least you'll see something.

If you have a high-definition set, though, you'll see a lot more than something. You'll see a spectacular picture in a format the geeks call 1080i high-def. The video is so clear and sharp, it's not so much a home movie as a flashback.

The camera is well-stocked with features, too. Some are typical for Sony - a "minutes remaining" display for the battery, for example, and an infrared, "night-vision goggles" mode that lets you record in complete darkness.

The 2.8-megapixel still photos are better than on most camcorders, although still no match for dedicated digital cameras. The HC1 even inherited a junior version of a clever FX1 feature: you can ask it to memorize two zoom, focus or exposure settings, which you can think of as Start and End. Then, at the touch of a button, the camera smoothly glides from one to the other - a very professional effect.

So if the HC1 is so wonderful, who would bother paying nearly twice as much for the FX1?


Pros, mainly. The FX1 has many more manual controls and advanced features. Above all, though, it has three chips - one sensor each for the primary video colors - which lets it capture amazingly true color in almost every lighting condition.


Like most consumer camcorders, the HC1 has only one sensor. Its color reproduction still blows away other one-chip models, but in shadowy portions of low-light shots, the HC1's video is just as likely to teem with dancing grainy molecules (known as video noise).

Otherwise, you'll be thrilled with the video captured by this comfortable, confident camera. In fact, considering how many things Sony got right on this machine, it seems almost ungrateful to point out its flaws.

Battery life is one of them. The included battery is good for only 45 minutes of HD recording. You can buy a bigger battery, but then you'll bump, literally, into another problem: the eyepiece viewfinder doesn't extend outward to cover the added depth of beefier batteries. Roman noses, beware.

It's also worth noting that the HC1's tape compartment is on the bottom. That's a common design in consumer cams, but it means that you can't change tapes when the camera is on a tripod.

Sony has once again chosen to make the camera's body look simpler and cleaner by relegating most control buttons to displays on the flip-out touch screen. As always, though, that's a tradeoff. It means, for example, that when you want to play back some video for the family on the TV, you have to keep the screen open, scarfing down battery power. That's where the Play, Stop and Rewind buttons appear.

Finally, even at its most zoomed-out position, the lens is zoomed in a lot more than you'd probably like (another common foible of consumer cams).

In photographers' terms, the HC1 has a 41-480mm zoom equivalent; in human terms, you have to stand way back to fit someone's entire body into the frame. Unless you add an unwieldy wide-angle adapter lens, count on a lot of waist-up shots of people in the same room.

Considering the scope of the HC1's achievement, though, these are just nits. This camcorder will attract a heck of a lot of fans - so many, in fact, that the nagging question of mid-decade HDTV enthusiasts will begin cropping up more often: Once you've shot some amazing high-def video, how will you show it?

You can edit it on a Mac or PC, but most HD-compatible editing programs are very expensive. (The exception is Apple's iMovie HD, which costs $80 as part of a five-program package.) You can't save your masterpiece to a tape, because who has a high-definition VCR? And you can't burn it to a DVD, because high-definition DVD recorders are not yet here.

For the moment, then, there's only one practical way to replay your life's high-definition moments: by connecting the HC1 directly to your HDTV set.

In other words, buying a high-def camcorder today is a decidedly forward-thinking move. It allows you to capture the priceless moments today, at the best possible quality, even though the rest of the HDTV puzzle pieces have yet to fall into place.

If that kind of "shoot now, show later" philosophy appeals to you, thank Sony. The HC1 is a true breakthrough in price and size, and it brings the potential of dazzling high-definition video to an enormous new audience.

Welcome to the future, Group A. The line forms here.