Another HV30 price drop?

[Michael Kraus]

Can anyone point out why the HV30 keeps dropping in price. Just about a week ago I freaked out that B&H dropped it to $600.

....Now it's $550.

Am I missing something or is canon just about to release another spiffy HD camcorder?

Or is it because it's a tape based cam in an increasingly tapeless world?

Or is it merely because of the holidays?

I guess I shouldn't complain since I am seriously considering purchasing a small HD camcorder ASAP. I just don't want to be ignorant of something important when the time comes to make my purchase.

[Jenn Kramer]

I doubt it'll drop much below $500, but I wouldn't be surprised if a new model came out in January. The HV20 and the HV30 both dropped in January, and its been a year since the HV30. I doubt they'll be able to put much more in it, it's already a great camera. The update may end up being more like the HV20 to HV30 bump.

[Michael Wisniewski]

With the aggressive pricing, I think it's being used as a loss leader. But usually the low holiday pricing doesn't last. In the past, I've waited to buy, and found that the price jumped back up the following year.

[Tripp Woelfel]

Don't overlook the lousy economy. It could be retailers selling at a loss. It does happen more than one might think. Also, since product introductions cost money, I'd be less inclined to think that Canon would release an incremental upgrade. If there's a new product it's likely to be a substantial change in features or a great reduction in production costs. There might actually be fewer features if it's a substantial cost reduction.

This comes from 20 years in product marketing for major corporations.

[Paul Leung]

Originally Posted by Tripp Woelfel

If there's a new product it's likely to be a substantial change in features or a great reduction in production costs. There might actually be fewer features if it's a substantial cost reduction.

Yeah, like the Panasonic upgrade from GS400 to GS500.

[Randy Panado]

Originally Posted by Paul Leung

Yeah, like the Panasonic upgrade from GS400 to GS500.

If you can call that an upgrade. *sigh*...I miss my GS400 :(.

I wish panasonic would come out with an HD GS-400 (with 24p of course). That would be awesome :). Sorry for the slight OT.

[John Hotze]

As the camera model ages, naturally the prices are going to drop but with the economy in a very bad recession as it is, prices on most anything is going to tumble. Gas is an example. I just filled up for $1.39 a gallon. I think I paid over $4.00 a gallon last spring.

[Michael Kraus]

The economy! How could I forget?

It seems that there are lots of possible reasons. Can we expect further price decreases on other items? I did notice that the xh-a1 is down a couple hundred for the holidays as well. Will other video products and companies follow suite or have they already?

[Tripp Woelfel]

Originally Posted by Michael Kraus

I did notice that the xh-a1 is down a couple hundred for the holidays as well.

This is probably because Canon have announced the XH-A1S to be delivered early next year. And yes, the economy too. Parenthetically, the A1S offers some very useful new functionality with none lost compared to the existing camera.

If one listens to the economic pundits, there is a very real threat of deflation in the global economy. It's only a risk at this point, but if it happens prices will be lower. It would also be disastrous.

[John Stakes]

Well I guess it's going back up now? $589 @ B&H...

[Dave Blackhurst]

deflation is a reality already... that $1.5M McMansion that's worth half or less is a shining example. We're in for some "readjustments", no matter how the whole thing pans out.

AS for tech, closeouts with any "new" model year are often enticing, and particularly with HD cameras, each model year seems to bring a price drop, as SD rides off into the sunset... and HD heads down the road to where $250 will buy a "HD" camera...

Now when will BLURAY get with the program???

[Bill Pryor]

Even at $589 that's a decent price. Shipping is free too. I'm getting serious about buying an HV30 (to use as a deck for my XH A1 and also as a second camera for when I might want to look like a tourist). I haven't heard anything, so this is just speculation, but it is possible that may be the last HDV consumercam Canon makes. It seems the whole consumer market is headed toward tapeless. If that's true, I definitely want an HV30 before they go away.

It would be a great time to buy an XH A1 too if anybody needs one. The "S" upgrade is nice but I'd still go for the $1,000 savings if I needed another XH A1 today.

[Michael Galvan]

Well I think we may see another HDV based consumer cam from them at CES.

With the XH series just updated, their HDV pro cam line will be out for at least another year. One of the purposes of these HDV consumer cams is to act as a "deck" for their professional line (hence why the HV series can playback the "F" modes of the XL-XH series).

As long as Canon has their HDV professional line out, they will need an accompanying deck.

So here's hopes for an HV40 :)

[Bill Koehler]

I think there's a bunch of reasons for a declining price.

1. The economy is very poor.
2. Retailers are not wanting to be stuck with leftover stock after Christmas+New Years.
3. It is a HDV+tape based product in a rapidly transitioning AVCHD+flash based world.
4. CES in Las Vegas is less than a month away. And it would be unreasonable to expect no new product. As in a flash based replacement.

It would be interesting to know the month by month sales numbers. It would not surprise me at all if with the release of the AVCHD+flash based HF10, HF11, and HF100 that the older HDV+tape based products sales are rapidly shrinking.

[Bill Koehler]

Originally Posted by Michael Galvan

As long as Canon has their HDV professional line out, they will need an accompanying deck.

So here's hopes for an HV40 :)

And today, you got it :-)

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/digital-v...rs-2009-a.html