“What is HAD CCD? My Sony Handycam camcorder says it has an Advanced HAD CCD, but I’m not sure what that means.”
CCDs are one of the two common imaging chips found in camcorders (along with CMOS sensors). HAD CCD is a Sony specific product called a Hole-Accumulation Diode Charged Coupled Device. Sony claims their various HAD CCD implementations to be better than regular CCD, but I cannot find any independent research to suggest the Sony claims to be anything more than marketing hype. There are currently three different HAD CCD types from Sony:
Super HAD, which according to Sony is a “sensor with sharply improved sensitivity by the incorporation of a new semiconductor technology developed by Sony Corporation”.,
EXview HAD, which is a “CCD that drastically improves light efficiency by including near infrared light region as a basic structure of HAD (Hole-Accumulation Diode) sensor”.
Advanced HAD didn’t seem to have any specific statements made about it on the Sony Website.
