I have a 3 year old camcorder. The sensor is: 1/4 inch (6.4mm, effective size: 4.5mm) CCD image sensor (with approx. 460,000 pixels including optical black). The new camcorder indicates: native 16:9 1/6” CCD with a 800K gross pixel count (290K effective pixels in 4:3 and 380K effective pixels in 16:9). Would this new camcorder provide better video quality than my old camcorder even though mine has a 1/4 inch CCD?
That is a tough one and probably not possible to anwer without actual testing. I would recommend to check the reviews on both models on http://www.camcorderinfo.com