Sony HVR-A1J - Anyone Heard of this Model?

[Watermoore]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-NEW-Sony-HVR-A1J-HDV-DVCAM-PRO-Camcorder-HVR-A1U_W0QQitemZ290176428797QQihZ019QQcategoryZ107938 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

HVR-A1J HDV DVCAM

I am interested in this model, Its a asian model by assumption (all the replies when I google it are in japanese) but what makes it interesting IMO is that it records HDV on DV rather than MiniDV. I wonder if this would allow for less compression in turn decreasing drop out rates etc. you cant beat the price 1900.00 but I believe it using cmos imaging and its one chip if I am guessing correctly. Any input on this specific model would be greatly appreciated as I am interested in High Def but cant really afford the Xh-A1 right now. I am really just looking for something with good image quality for no-low budget indies, that has some sort of mic support xlr or (more realistically 1/8th inch mini plug) that can tide me over until we get the funds to upgrade. Thanks a million.

[robroysyd]

It looks like it's just the Japanese version of the A1.

DV is MiniDV by the way.

[Barry_Green]

Right, there's no less compression involved. The confusion comes from DV vs. miniDV; it's the exact same format and same compression and the same physical tape, but the DV cassette is large (holding 4.5 hours of footage) and the miniDV cassette is small.

So no, the HDV format won't change with this A1J; if it can take the larger cassette then that means you'll be recording the exact same footage (same compression, etc) but able to hold a lot more of it per large tape.

[mikkowilson]

Yup, that's a standard, but gray market, Sony HVR-A1 .. It's the "Pro" version of the HC1, essentially a HDV version of the PDX10 (Which came from the TRV950 and the TRV900 before that) [and the TRV900 was the only good camera in the bunch!]

Redords DV, DVCAM, and HDV, to the normal "Mini" size tapes.


So nothing new or special, it's a HDV camcorder with XLR inputs and DVCAM recording mode.
It's actually a decent little 1080i palmcorder, but it sucks as soon as you need to mount it to anything - it's a bottom loader, and the whole base of the camera is incredibly weak beacuse of it.


As for that e-bay store;
It looks like a normal bait-and-switch scam job. They may very well ship you what they advertize, but it's going to be a gray market camera with no warranty or any sort of support coverage. (And you can normally forget about customer service from the seller too)

- Mikko

[Watermoore]

thanks guys, after pricing the A1 I have decided not to go get the jap version. I am sure that guy at Barclays is a scammer since even on the Japanese site the camera runs about 2500.00 so to import it to the US and sell it for 1900.00 is ludicrous. I am glad I posted any other suggestions of a good camera SD or HDV for under 2 grand that has XLR and 24p at least Native 16:9 would be nice too.