The Sony HDR-HC3 was first spotted in SonyHDVInfo Forum, and CamcorderInfo reported - “A manual for the European version of the HDR-HC3 camcorder, a lower-end follow-up to the popular high definition (HD) HCR-HC1, has been released on the Internet. The existence of the camcorder has been confirmed by a source close to Sony. 

So, when will Sony release the HDR-HC4? Well judging from past performance it can’t be too long now. We’ll keep an eager eye out.

It is unclear if the HDR-HC4 will be a replacement for the HDR-HC3 or meant to complement it in the line. It should be lighter and may have many features put back in, including the mic jack and zoom ring. The HDR-HC4 will probably still use a Carl Zeiss-Sonnar T* lens, with a 30mm filter diameter with 10x optical and 80x digital zoom, a focal length of 5.1 – 51mm, with a 35mm equivalent of 41.3mm – 485mm in 16:9 aspect ratio, and 50.5 – 594mm in 4:3 aspect ratio."