That's a gross oversimplification. Suffice it to say that there's people who don't know what they're talking about who like to pontificate, and also that things are never as they really seem. The $100,000 Sony F900 (price when introduced) shot HD video at 1440 x 1080, not 1920x1080, and that's the camera they used to shoot Star Wars Episode II.
So is there any truth to what they're saying? Yes, it's based in truth. The HPX170 does use 960x540 CCDs, but it doesn't "double its pixels", it uses a technique called "spatial offset" which results in a net resolution of about 1440 x 810. That then gets recorded in DVCPRO-HD, which records 1440x1080 (in PAL) or 1280x1080 (in NTSC). So even if it had 1920x1080 chips, it wouldn't be recording a true 1920x1080 because the recording format it uses doesn't offer that. Of course, that's the same DVCPRO-HD that has been used in countless productions, series, movies, etc., including the highly critically acclaimed BBC series "Planet Earth"...
The HPX170 makes high-def footage. It's not as razor-sharp as some cameras, but it's also not some lame standard-def pixel-doubled thing either. It's legit high-def. The HPX170 was chosen by NBC to be its main handheld camera for all its owned & operated stations, and NBC is a 1080 network.
