Sony Hi Def FX1E anyone ?

[JH4]

Anyone got their hands on one yet ?

[vonhosen]

Are they actually even available for sale here yet ?

I didn't think they were .

Would love one

H Prestons have them. £2500.

Got my hands on one in the summer (was japanese working proto). Solid cam, but HDV looked lossy on HD monitors (well, LCD projector), standard DV looked well above average. Got a UK spec test coming up.

The new HDV-FX1 is really excellent. We have used one and tested it in various broadcast set ups including actuality and studio. Ignoring the HD factor, just the fact that it has true 16:9 chips is an immense improvement and the lens and processing means that the picture quality is by far superior to any other small camera on the market, it approaches the quality of DSR570. The resolution is exceptional, in HD mode it actually resolves more than 1200 lines so recording in HDV and then downconverting to SD for post production will give a definite quality boost. However, the sensitivity is about 2 - 3 stops less than a PD170 but as the gain is virtually noiseless, this shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The "professional" HVR-Z1 will be available in the UK from Feb 2005 and looks to have a few improvements over this consumer version.

Watch this space....