I think the camcorder vendors are about to make a lot of money.
First, there’s the advent of
affordable
consumer HD. Obviously, the consumer product has all sorts of problems,
most notably the lack of high-def players. But if you care about what you’re
shooting, this is the first-ever archival-quality option, and that
matters.
The real reason is that, increasingly, there are a lot of people—I’m one—with
a wide-screen TV and a camcorder that can’t fill it.
The basic value proposition—take movies that look good on your TV—ain’t there.
At one level, it would be really tough to upgrade to 16:9 and not go all the
way to HD.
But that camera Pogue wrote up (It’s called the “HDR-HC1”, but Sony’s site,
gimme a break, I am not so foolish as to link to URIs beginning
sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD in
the hope that they’ll last); anyhow, that camera, you’re paying a whole bunch
and there are issues. It’s going to be interesting times.
