Originally Posted by Greg Jacobson

It will be out later this year. (6 months?)

Yes, these specs beat the JVC and the Sony. Both the JVC and the Sony are HDV (mpeg2) with mpeg1 audio. I have 2 of the Sony cams and they are good but will be getting one of these Pannys regardless of the price. The Panny is DVCPROHD (not HDV) which is a hell of a lot less compression and the audio is uncompressed as opposed the the insult of having your audio squished down to MPEG1 before you can even edit it. (HDV)