On 18 Feb 2003 03:56:43 GMT, behr@muir.math.niu.edu (Eric Behr) wrote:

>In article <jga15vcq691plr9qt60doc78rjtidmhgf8@4ax.com>,

> <nowhere@home.com> wrote:

>>On 16 Feb 2003 03:20:23 GMT, behr@muir.math.niu.edu (Eric Behr) wrote:

>>>[...]

>>>I'd be interested in any guesses, gossip, predictions. Thanks.

>>

>>Sony will have a new range of D8 camcorders soon. Oddly the Sony

>>website still lists the old models but the Argos catalog (in the UK)

>>shows the new models.

>

>Hmmm, with some trouble I managed to access their website, and I

>didn't see any D8 models other than the very low end x40, not even

>the new 250 and 350. So if you do have some other indications of

>new D8 models beyond that, I'd love to know about it.

>

>After many Google searches I settled on a 730 or 830, and ran into

>a stone wall, nobody has any left. So after a careful look at the

>specs and differences, I decided that the 740 or preferably an 840

>will be good enough for me. Guess what - stone wall again, even

>though they were at my local Best Buy just a month or so ago! Is

>Sony forcing retailers to dump the existing inventory???

>

>Cached web pages show a lot of these at prices around $700, but

>right now the jokers who answer the phones quote $1099 or some

>such, and it isn't even certain they have it in stock... I'll try

>B&W tomorrow (unless you guys beat me to it!)

>

>I'm pretty ticked of with Sony, for the n-th time. The exact same

>thing happened to me 8 or so years ago when I was a bit late in

>trying to buy the TRV-101, and ended up with one of the duds that

>followed it. It seems that when they come out with a really good

>product, they usually try to kill it way too early. Do they really

>think that the 730 or 740 is eating into their VX2000 market?

>

>Thanks to everyone for the comments.

It's marketing.

At the low end (1-chippers), people expect "NEW and

IMPROVED" (bleah...!), with yearly changes, even if

in reality image and sound quality have not changed -

with only the feature-sets, looks, and prices having

changed... (TRV11 = TRV17 = TRV18 = TRV19, for instance,

over four years of model "changes"). The buyers of

the 3-CCD models want the reverse - they want stability

in the models, and expect their expensive purchases to

be current for 5 year periods... BTW, the TRV740 does

appear to be excellent, and worth a look around (try

bhphotovideo and other large dealers...) - but if you

miss it, it is likely the "new" replacement model

will be essentially the same...;-)