I'm still struggling with understanding why people think the progressive recording is visibly superior for normal HD usage playing back through an HDTV. The 1080i recordings from the Sony cams look spectacular on a Sony 46" 60Hz TV, and I understand the newer TVs at 120Hz do all sorts of clever interpolation and the video might look even better there. I can't even really tell the difference between playback quality on a PC (nominally progressive) vs the HDTV (nominally interlaced) except that the former is on a much smaller screen and isn't my target output device in practice. So that rules out the only source of regret I might have about using a 1080i cam.

I've also heard that some of the advertised 1080p cams aren't actually capturing in that mode, they just interpolate themselves and play it back that way.

I understand the technological difference but wonder how much it really matters at this point. For example, I definitely don't buy that a 720p recording looks superior to a 1080i one on my TV. So is the difference something that is visible to the average consumer on an average HDTV today, or is it a futures consideration except for people who are trying to emulate film cameras used for movies?

The problem there is that all LCD and Plasma HDTVs that are currently out there are natively progressive--and they deinterlace interlaced signals to varying degrees of quality depending on the set. Only CRT HDTVs (now extremely rare) and some of the HD projectors are natively interlaced.

On the other hand, Canon's so-called "1080p" modes are really 1080p streams embedded inside a 1080i container. Thus, they are read as 1080i video in a program which cannot properly remove the pulldown encoded in the videos.

When we bought our HDTV (a Sony XBR) at least two years ago, it was clear from the manual that the TV itself is now a very powerful graphics processing computer and would do all sorts of things with the incoming signal as opposed to just throwing it onscreen. The 120Hz models sound even more so.

So are there any consumer cams doing true 1080p not wrapped in a 1080i container? I had read a bit about that recently and that's part of why I don't feel any need to go to 1080p - I've gotten the impression that there's some advertising hype going on there.

If there are some top to bottom 1080p cams out there (less than $1500), will there be a noticeable visual difference between that and the Sony 1080is on a good LCD 120Hz HDTV? Or does the TV's own processing cover any gap? Again, I don't really care that much about PC playback, if I want to watch the video for entertainment, I'm going to use the TV for that.

Here in the uk the HV30 does true 25P recording and the look of the filming is better than my previous SR12 as is the overall colour rendition.

Lack of progressive recording has to be a big downer on all sony consumer cams.

Until we get true progressive recording at 60fps or more I am not interested. The lower frame rates of 24,25 or 30 I find really bothersome to watch. Inherent issues with motion and bad filming technique, judder makes me a little sick at times and I change channels!!! In NTSC land the TV's refresh at 60hz or more and until one gets to 120hz the sets CANNOT display 24p correctly, if they detect 24p and deal with as an emulation of 5 blade projector. They don't all do this!!!! The worse case is they don't detect 24p and try to interpolate extra frames and mess up the pulldown even more !!! 30p is displayed at 60p doubling each frame, 24 has pulldown cadence. So one is actually watching an effect!!!! Same would be true in PAL for 25 in a 50hz world.
Shooting 24p has a purpose if one is going to transfer to film and show at a festival from a film projector. Easier and lower cost way of creating the film. In my mind when festival all go digital projectors there will be little point. Might as well remove the hassle of motion and keep all the other techniques of composition, lighting colour saturation etc. We don't need to stay with the legacy from a century old business decision of the movie industry( it had nothing to do with art or technology it was MONEY).
Finally you must have gathered I like smooth motion and as such have no problems with my 60i Sony's. Also my XR500 gives a much nicer clean picture than my FX1. So I will be buying the new Sony NXCAM when it comes out in the new year. Since it will also do 1280x720P60 I will be happy.
Ron Evans

25P in pal looks far better if used properly, running around hand held would of course not, am i right the 7D only records progressive.

My first music video clip shot with my DIY 35mm adapter on Vimeo

Pretty good i reckon wish it was mine, not the music though.

HF S10 HH65C IN D.C. on Vimeo