How long till the XH successor is released?
 

Im needing another XH-A1 and have been wondering how long until the successor camera is released. It has been out about 2 years now. The H1 was released 9 months before the XH series and the H1 has recently been updated to the H1a.

The H1a updates were mainly small feature and firmware updates, but some were very useful and would easily carry over to the XH series.

Does anyone have any informed rumor yet?

It will be 2 years this November.....I think they would update in the 2nd half of '09.

Jim Martin

ps-I think/hope we'll see a H2 before the above listed update.

Jim's response makes sense. Although I have no inside knowledge, life cycles for technology-based items generally are two years or less. Manufacturers that try to lengthen that do it at significant risk to their market share numbers. Consumers chase feature content, even at this level and if you don't add features you fall behind.

The key negative against the A1/G1 is the solo servo functionality. They've fixed that, to some degree on the new H1 models. It would be reasonable to see that in updated A1/G1 models. This fix would remove a deal-breaking negative for a significant number of potential buyers, potentially increasing market share.

I would be surprised if there weren't announcements at IBC and NAB next year.

In the past Canon has done minor upgrades after about 3 years, haven't they? Sony used to do it after the first year or so with their 2/3" chip cameras. These upgrades usually are only minor, although in the case of Canon's XL1, the XL1s model lost a lot of that early softness, so that was pretty major.

I agree with Bill. From Canon's past record one could infer upgrades to their top-end camcorders on about a 3-year interval.