Sony Professional HVR-A1U CMOS High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I bought this camera to start my production business with and it was the best move I could have made. This camera is great for a beginner like me. It is user friendly while still allowing for ajustments. The HD is also amazing, my customers that have there videos in HD are absolutely floored we they get their finished product. A few things that I can recommend are getting a tripod as well as an extended battery. The stock battery only provides about 45 min with LCD and if you add anything other then the shotgun mic it lowers it even more. Make sure you use only high quality tapes. (I found out the hard way) Good tapes for this camera are going to cost about $10 to $15 but they are worth it when you reduce the time for re-tape due to drop-out on the film. All together this for me is a great camera for the price. Anything better is going to run you about $8000 or more.

This camcorder is from the Sony Professional division with pro level warranty support. Sound is 70% of the experience and this camcorder delivers pro level XLR connectors with 48V power. For best sound results manually set the volume as high as possble keeping the peaks below 0db. The CMOS sensor produces amazing HD quality. A head shot of a person wearing a ball cap facing into strong direct sun with a deep shadow across their face does not blow out the highlights and shows full details in the shadow. I'm using Sony Vegas 7 to edit the results and I'm very happy with both the camcorder and Vegas.

This is bigger than the small consumer camcords but is about the same size as my old Sony Digital 8 camcorder and it's smaller than any other pro camcorder. Pro shooters are always amazed and comment on how small it is. Nothing produces this level of pro results without spending a lot more money.

While as good or better than the current crop of small HD consumer camcorders for shooing in low light there are better pro models such as the Sony Z1 and V1 for low light. The manual settings are via the touch screen and a not included PDA stylus is a must have to keep finger prints of the screen. 24fps can be done but you need Cineform Connect HD to do the pulldown from the Sony CF24 as the native CF24 is choppy until you use Cineform. If 24fps is a must the Sony V1 is a better choice.

Correction: High-definition video camera records in 1080i, or 480 NTSC (known as standard DV or DV) specification with analog down-converting. -->It does NOT record in 720p, or 720i. However, this is not an issue, just a correction. Also, all the output (for editing) is firewire; a digital format. You can watch the output on a TV using composite, svhs or component. Audio is RCA L/R.

As the other gentleman observed, this is more a serious amateur (dare I say pro?) camcorder that begs to be used. This is far more than the average user would want or need. It's bigger and heavier than the basic camcorder. But it shoots HDV 1080i and has gained a reputation as a documentary camera in situations where the camera may get damaged.

Key features over the sibling HC1 and HC3
It's same size as the HC1, except the added on audio "stalk".
No built in flash, but you are shooting video, not stills.
Audio is far more flexible than the other ones. HC3 is in-camera only. HC1 L&R channels are tied together, no independent controls. HC1 also will only accept unbalanced input (or spend $269 on BeachAudio converter and another $200 on shotgun to get equivalent). A1u is balanced input (XLR) and separate audio.

A1u also has black stretch switch for better definition of darker shaded scenes. Also if you output to 4:3 SDV, you can choose letterbox, stretch or cropped output. Other camcorders don't offer this (not sure about HC3).
Overall a1u has over 50 added features vs HC1.

Also, if you intend to edit HDV, it's an expensive proposition. Be sure to thoroughly research this before committing. It requires a fairly beefy PC. Expect to consume about 13 gig per hour of video.

You can output SDV today and edit that with any $50 video editing program and later on re-output in HDV and burn to Hi-def once that becomes mainstreamed... futureproofing yourself.

7/08 -- While AVCHD (flash memory) cameras are now becoming popular, they require even more powerful PC's to edit and as of this writing, software to edit the files is only now becoming available. So make sure you look at the entire workflow before jumping in. One nice thing is most all HD camcorders have either HDMI or component video out and can be used to play back to a HDTV in at full resolution. It's pretty awesome and will make you glad you bought one, even if you have to possibly wait to buy the rest of the components needed to edit.

PS Look for the Sony HVR-A1U in "Ice Road Truckers" and "Deadliest Catch" and other similar HD programs.

The Sony HVR-A1U CMOS High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom performs as advertised. It is very versatile to answer the user's various demands on it. When High Definition DVD recorders (Blu-Ray or HD DVD) become standardized and widely available, I expect this technology will be the norm. The pictures in Hi-Def are wonderful.

This camcorder is the best I have ever had!I have 5 others all higher and lower priced models for my business, I do video photography as one of my jobs. I love this camera, I dont know what would do without it! My kids can even operate it, we have made so many quality movies at home. I also use this camcorder for paid wedding and special occasion videos, it works great and I love the brand I really perfer it to others. Its not for you if you arent going to use alot or have a problem with the size, I dont think it's that big but then again I use some equipment thats enormous. This is not a palm Caamcorder.
Once you figure out if this is the camera for you, you will be please, I enjoy it a lot!! There are descriptions of the camcorder, options and quality of the product on this page.
I love it and hope my short review helps. I know this is a non-detail review but all the info is on this page. This isnt for a person looking for a $400 dollar camera, if you want quality movies or use it for your job, ect. I really think this one is great! Hope this is useful, Camcorder Fanatic