Why would I need a 3 CCD camcorder instead of a single chip CCD camcorder?

Why would I need a 3 CCD camcorder instead of a single chip CCD camcorder?

Tim Smith (Camcorder Training Specialist) gives expert video advice on: How does a camcorder work?; Why don't consumer camcorders work well in low light? and more...

You're looking at camcorders and you've got a couple of choices to make. Some of those choices might be whether or not you want to buy a single chip camcorder or a 3-chip camcorder. Well a 3-chip camcorder uses 1 chip for red, 1 for green and 1 for blue and all colours are created by either the additions of red, green and blue or subtraction of red, green and blue on the colour palette. So 3-chip camcorders, generally speaking, give you the best picture quality. Single chip camcorders rely on 1 chip to produce all colours in the spectrum and that can be done with different types of filtering systems. In general a 3-chip camcorder is going to give you a better picture quality than a single chip camcorder.