The new Sony HDR-HC9 widesceen?

[daddyrobyn]

Hi,
I want to buy a camera that records in widescreen HD in the best possible quality available for under $1500.

I am also only interested in MDV, HDD, and Memory-stick. MDV being my top choice and HDD being my least favorite.

I have studied a lot on this subject and have narrowed down to 3 sony models however a few questions remain.

My top choice is the HDR-HC9 MiniDV HD (available in Feb 08) however I don't think it records in widescreen. Video resolution says Full HD 1440x1080. This is a big disappointment. Why would I record in 4:3 when most new tvs are 16:9? The product description does mentions 16:9 in a few other places though so I'm confused.
Please explain if this camera does record widescreen or not. True widescreen not just black bars above and below the picture. If it does, this is the camera for me and there is no longer any reason to read on.

I also like the HDR-CX7 and the HDR-SR12.

I'm not interested in opinions, facts only please. I understand the basic pros and cons of mdv, hdd and ms but two of these cameras are new and I'm hoping they have improved on the models they are replacing.

Thanks

 

[G5Unit]

Try the Canon HV20.

 

[Alican]

It does record in widescreen. 1440x1080 would only be 4:3 if the pixels were square. But the HDV format doesn't use square pixels, so in HDV 1440x1080 is 16:9

 

[hvfsl]

If you are serious about HD video, the only camcorders worth considering are the HC9 or Canon HV20/HV30. We will need to wait for some reviews to see how they compare to each other though. The HV20 is currently the best consumer HD camcorder out there (in terms of video quality), unless the HV30 or HC9 can improve upon that.

Unfortunately the compression is still to high on Hard Disk based camcorders.