Comical or not, but Sony does not use secure handshake protocol for its batteries, and you can choose to buy either a genuine Sony battery or a knockoff, and it will work, costing 2-3 times less. Canon implemented some sort of handshake starting from last year's consumer camcorders, but knockoffs still do work. The camera does not display remaining charge time, only a low-battery sign, but it works.
JVC and Panasonic, on the other hand, insist on using OEM batteries. To enforce this, they use secure handshake protocol, and I am really surprised that no Chinese company have broken it yet. Is the encryption really so good? Or the market for Panasonic batteries is not large enough to warrant the hacking?
B&H sells OEM Sony NP-F970 battery pack (7.2v, 6600mAh) for $95, while 3rd party batteries available for half the price. As for Panasonic batteries, B&H sells OEM VW-VBG6PPK battery pack (7.2V, 5800mAh) for $ 138. Dollar per capacity, this is 65% more expensive than for a genuine Sony battery. Knockoffs do not work, and the only non-Panasonic battery is IDX, which is only $3 cheaper at B&H, but has lower capacity (5000mAh), which means that dollar per capacity, these batteries are even less attractive: 87% more expensive than the OEM Sony battery. Also, I've read elsewhere, that with an IDX battery a camcorder does not display remaining charge time, only low-charge warning sign, just like Canon cameras with non-OEM batteries.
The tiny VW-VBG130 battery Pack, which lasts for about 30-35 minutes in my CCD-based power-hungry HDC-SD1, was originally offered for $100-110, and customers cried ripoff. Presently, this battery is available for about $60-70, which is more bearable, but still with its 1320 mAh capacity it is quite expensive.
No wonder people are looking for alternatives.
...