I decided to share my opinion about the new Panasonic AG HMC80 and the HDC-MDH1.
SO the hmc 80 looks more professional with lot of functions such as 3 users, white balance (A B set. 3200 5600) color temperature control and lot of details chroma that you can control it easy and its very impressive, steady and with Ois. HMC 80 also have the XLR audio input with the phantom & channels control. so its kinda professional cheap camcorder. how ever iv been kinda disappointed with the results if we compare it to the very cheap mdh1 !!
they have the same 1\4.1 sensor but i feel that in the mdh1 the low light situation is much better than the hmc80 does.
so in my opinion, true that you can control lot of things on the hmc 80: more than the mdh1 control, but the mdh1 photages at low light situation is much better, I realized NOISE on my hmc80 and its disappointed to see noise at HD files !

Hi Eid

Just bear in mind that the MDH1 only has a single 1/4" CMOS chip where the HMC80 has 3 x 1/4" chips!!!

Panasonic introduced the MDH1 as a "HD big brother" replacement for the MD10000 which was an SD 4:3 camera only witrh 1/6" chips (I had two and they worked very well too!!!!!) In the USA they were called the DVC20 ... the MDH1 is the new HD version !!

I run 2 x HMC82's which are the PAL HMC80's and they work very well...the XLR audio is a big plus as well as having all your manual controls on the camera body!!

The MDH1 will be a great camera for those who want a shoulder mount camera without all the extras!

Chris

Hello Chris
I have also 2 Panasonic camera, dvc 62*, and in my opinion it gave me sharp image specially at low light scene. I try the HMC 82, and I didn't like how I see noise at the dark places in my small room even when the light turned on, maybe if you give it external light, you will get very good footages, I like how the 82 designed and how it is steady on shoulder, but its little over weight (3 kg+ ) lol

so now am working with 2 dvc62 and the mdh1, and i think to upgrade to the Sony NX70 > 1\2.88 sensor (hair up from 1\3 or the sony nx5. they coast little bit more than the panasonic 82 but they really 1\3 sensor ...

* hmc 80\82 its the upgrade of my dvc 62 : ) ...