Erick, I don't own the Z5 or the FX1000, but I'm planning to get one in the near future.

I was just at Sony Style in N.Y. yesterday to test the FX1000. One of the tests I ran was a 4:3 SD test since that is still the bulk of my shooting. I didn't have my VX2100 with me, so I couldn't do an A/B. I can tell you, looking at the 4:3 footage I shot on its own, it looked fine. I would not call it muddy at all when I played it back on both my 19" Sony and 14" JVC editing monitor. I wish I could tell you how the FX1000 measured up to the 2100 in terms of clarity and sharpness, but without the same 2100 footage I can't. I will say this, I think the color on the 1000 is more accurate than the 2100.

I'll add one thing to what Tom just said above, the 1000 will not allow 4:3 downconversion when shooting in HDV, it will only be 16:9.

My experience is that my V1, my Z7 and a friends FX1000 have a superior image to the VX2100, PD170, DVX100 and probably even my BetacamSP when shot in HD and downconverted to SD in a good edit system. And they seem to be at least as good to my eyes, when downconverted in the camera.