when is this thing going to be on the shelves already?

Shelves...and trucks as we speak. (as of Friday) But don't look at Circuit City...

...try Zotz or ZGC. Both are offering it now.

KW

Yup, I have a tracking number that says my H1 should be at my front door on Monday.

Wow, as a traditional first-adopter, I'm insanely jealous. Please give us info and clips when you get, will you? I'm still pretty torn between this and the Panny. They're about the same price when you add in the storage device for the HVX200.

I am still very conflicted about the benefits of the H1 with the HDV downside VERSUS the upsides of the DVCProHD and P2 downside. Sigh...Canon would have made my life so much easier had it been $6500.

Let us know your thoughts when you get it Pete!

Thanks.

Kevin

Yup, I have a tracking number that says my H1 should be at my front door on Monday.


I'm interested in hearing how nice the 24f HDV footage is as all I've seen so far is the uncompressed HD stuff. Keep us posted you lucky devil!

I am still very conflicted about the benefits of the H1 with the HDV downside VERSUS the upsides of the DVCProHD and P2 downside. Sigh...Canon would have made my life so much easier had it been $6500.

One way to look at this is that for ~$10K you can either buy a Canon XL-H1 kit or a Pansonic HVX200 with a pair of Firestore hard drives. The Canon will give you HDV quality in mobile situations and unbeatable HD quality in stationary settings where you can connect via HD-SDI to a suitable recording device. The Panasonic will give you medium HD quality in a wider variety of situations, but only if you can afford enough memory to keep recording. If you need mobility then the HVX200 is arguably a better choice for the price, but the Canon becomes intriguing if you can make use of the HD-SDI option.

If you don't have $10+K to invest in a single camera setup, forget both cameras and pick between the less expensive HDV models.