I read in the press release late October for A1 and mid November for G1. Does anybody have more solid street dates for the A1 and G1? Do you think these are realistic dates?

I've ordered mine through Zotz Digital in Oregon, and my sense after talking with them is that the A1 may come mid October, if not a little sooner.

They've been exceptionally helpful and informative!

Cool.

I ordered mine through B&H and the video guy said he didn't know, but he didn't think that Canon would make the October release. He suggested it might not be until early November for both cameras.

Canon let us know as of today that the sched. is still mid October for the A1 and mid November for the G1. The 6x wide for the H1 is mid October and the little HV10 is the end of next week.

Jim Martin

Thanks Jim

This (A1) better come out mid-october. I have a project lined up for the end of october and need it done before november before my screenwriter goes into surgery. Gah! the humanity! I just might have to get some other camera.

The stores in The Netherlands list the XH-G1 for late october, and the XH-A1 halfway November. So did they mix-up? I am not sure if I will opt for the XH-A1, I prefer to wait till the camera is reviewed by the right websites. But at this moment, I have the idea that it might be the ideal camera for my purpose. I want to make documentaries and short films. And this camera seems to have more value for that purpose then the Sony HDR-FX1. The only things is that I expect other companies to lower their prices. So I will wait and see.

But about the dates, who can clarify this?

Well no specific dates yet, but I just got a call from my dealer who said that Canon is taking orders from retailers for the A1, and that they are set to ship out mid-October.

Nice... I am planning to buy something in November. The Sony V1 is also an option, but this Canon product really has my attention.

I just got off the phone with my Canon USA representative. He stated that Canon has already allocated XHA1 camera's to their representatives. This means that product is already in route and on schedule with qty amounts allocated per region to be delivered within the US. The XHA1 is definitely going to be available 2nd or 3rd week of October depending on how fast US Customs releases product.

Best Regards,
Scott Cantrell
TapeWorks Texas Inc
Toll Free 866-827-3489
scott@tapeworkstexas.com

Cool. Thanks for the update.

I am so jazzed about getting mine!

good to know!

thanks

I hope they will soon let people review them. I am really interested in the performance of the camera, measured by objective people. I want to have this camera (A1) or the Sony V1. So unfortunately, I cannot and wil not place an order before both cameras are tested by respected sites.

The risk is that I will have to wait on new supplies.

So its going to be $3999 Canon XH-A1 vs the
$4290 Sony V1 (official street price).

Let's get ready to RUUUMMBLLEE ! 2006 is going out in a bang for sure.

Panasonic really needs to do something about that dvx100b. maybe a native, 16x9, AVC100 SD recording??

Where did you see the official retail price (MSRP) of the Sony V1?

got the official price for the camera from Bhphotovideo

will Canon just start selling the A1 without any reviews? I'm not going to be the reviewer. If they don't say something soon I will pass until I see something. it would worry me if they didn't let people handle the A1 and G1 before it comes out. Sony has given the V1 out to people and have showed it to people. But really nothing from Canon. Maybe it does have a lot of noise!

It is pretty unsettling, no reviews & no footage to speak of.

Worry and feeling unsettled are within yourself and really doesn't bear on Canon's low key style of releasing cameras. There's really nothing unusual here, as I've mentioned before:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=543887&postcount=22

When cameras are in people's hands, they can do reviews, but not before. If you need a camera now, the XH cameras aren't for you because they're not available yet. When they are, reviews aplenty will be on DVi, presumably in the next couple of weeks. Patience, friends, patience!

EDIT: I definitely agree, though, that THE BEST way to decide if a camera is the right one for you is to pick it up and shoot with it. In fact, I'm breaking with my own early adopter habit and waiting a while before deciding whether to add an XH to my 2 XL H1's, replace one of the H1's, or pass altogether on the XH's. I'll make that decision later after I've gotten a good opportunity to play with an XH. I'm not very good at being patient, but sometimes ya just gotta be.

I know that in the UK they are releasing the A1 on the 15th of November. As for the g1 no idea.

Unless something's changed in the last day or two, Kaku Ito will have some footage up and give us his feedback before the cam hits US store shelves.

As Peter mentioned, this is pretty much standard for Canon's camcorder releases. They just don't release early footage. To be fair, the prelease footage I've seen from other cams - while certainly interesting - has never been of the quality and variety to justify a purchase decision. And a professionally shot video from a manufacturer is likely to be biased 100% to the strengths of a given camera while avoiding any shortcomings; so that's not exactly representative either.

No, as much as most of us like these early pre-release videos, they really are rather pointless. I'll take some shaky Kaku mountain bike or city shot videos and his early review over manufacturer created videos and press releases any day. Just my 2 cents there of course...

www.philipwilliams.com

I normally don't buy anthing until second generation, but I probably would feel pretty safe getting this Canon, because it's really a second generation, in a way, since it has the same guts as the H1.

An unsettled feeling - yes, definetly! And that IS within me - I've had owned some of Canon's fine gear... they really do good work, but this will be my first new digital video camera! Those of you who've been around awhile have probably gone through all of this before... the new camera birthing process. I'm still pretty new at this, and yep - it's unsettling for me.

However, I'm far from undecided! I know this is my camera - I've waited plenty long enough. No need to hang around and ponder about it, or wait to play with one... mine's on order and hopefully on it's way soon.

If you're looking for a new user's review - I will do my best to put forth footage when this new baby gets here & I figure out how to let you guys see it.

So far I haven't read anything that gives me any reason to dislike it. I bet it won't provide underscan in the viewfinder, and I'll dislike that but could probably live with it if all other things are as good as they look on paper.

$4290 Sony V1 (official street price).


Where did you see the official retail price (MSRP) of the Sony V1?There IS no "official street price" for any machine. There is a MSRP "Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price" which for V1U I believe is US$4800.

The "street-price" is just decided and set by a retailer themselves, it cannot, by definition be an "official" price.

The US$4290 is just one retailer's price that they are selling the machine for currently.

MSRP's and street-prices can both change at any time, although it's far more common for street-price's to vary due to economic forces of supply & demand and competition etc.

Has anybody heard anything about when the A1 might actually be for sale in the U.S.?

Last I heard, it was going to be late October. Less than 30 days from now...

I'm going to B&H someday between the 23rd and 25th...what are my chances of getting a chance to play around with an XHA1/G1 display model?

My biggest concern with what I've been reading about them over my current FX1 is the smaller LCD screen in that rather strange location (I love where the FX1/Z1U screen is) and also I'm worried about low lighting levels/noise in low light. I shoot a lot of stuff that needs good low light capabilities (weddings, concerts, theater productions, ect.) and I've been pleased with the low level of noise in the FX1, and although I'd always like a little brighter picture in those conditions, I know the XHA1 probably won't be brighter, it just can't be really noisy in low light for what I need it for

Information just released today from my Canon USA Representative:

"THE NEW CANON XHA1 3 CHIP HDV CAMCORDER WILL START ALLOCATING ON OCTOBER 25th. THE XHG1 WILL ALSO START TO SHIP ON THE 25th."

Realize that this means that product will start shipping from Canon on the 25th and allocated accordingly to the Dealers, like TapeWorks Texas Inc.

ALL ALLOCATION WILL BE BASED ON SHIPPING THE OLDEST BACK ORDERS FIRST.

If you have any questions regarding your Back-Orders, contact your Canon USA Dealer that you pre-ordered your product through.

Best Regards,
Scott Cantrell
TapeWorks Texas Inc - HDVinfo Sponser

Cool news Scott. Thanks for the heads up!

I am extremely excited about getting these new beauties.

You guys are going to love this camera. I'm head over heels with my H1. And I have no doubt that picture quality will be near identical.

Just received an email at 7:15pm local time from the merchant asking me to call and verify the order (XH A1). The merchant is a large national brick and mortar chain with stores in my town. The call center lines are said to be answered 24 hours a day, so I called the 1-800 number at 9:00pm local. It was answered by an agent, I gave my order number, bill and ship to address. I did not have to give out my credit card number again, so I know it is legitimate. When I placed the order with this merchant, they confirmed their policy as posted on the website that they do not charge the credit card until they are ready to ship. But the agent said they are ready to ship. They are contacting the credit card company for verification with which I made prearrangements. The agent said the merchandise will ship Monday, October 21st. The release date I thought is not until October 25, but...Monday is what I am told. I specified next day air on the order so if true, Tuesday will be the day. If I don't receive a tracking number by Monday, in fact I will call 1-800 number again to confirm or deny...fingers crossed.

The only thing I do not understand is that there still isn't much information from Canon's side. The webpages of the two camera's are not available yet, the brochures are not there yet... and still they launch in a week or so. I hope they will soon release the brochures... so I am sure what I will be buying. The same goes for reviews... I would really like to see some at this time.

Right. I'm also mindful that when I placed the order they told me November 6.

Bogus information I was given about the Monday shipping date, apparently. No surprise.

Well, Nov. 6 is a Monday....