If I want the option of being able to record direct to my laptop ie live event. Am I limited to HDV camera or can AVCHD cameras stream straight to the laptop?

Well, obviously there's no firewire on AVCHD cam... live signal on HDMI/component with the right card of some sort maybe?

One of the advantages of the AVCHD cams is fast transfer time (I get about 1/3 real time or faster). I'd rather have the freedom to move about while recording, and do a fast data dump.