Not to discount the distinct possibility of Canon producing an S35 digital cinecam in the near future, but they're much more likely to deliver a 2/3" model first.
It's a simple assessment based on their existing line up of 2/3 HD cinelenses.

I also expect JVC to offer something similar around the same time; a camera which I personally think will dish out some unexpected mojo to give it a slight edge over its competitors. (I'm not a JVC fan boy; I just think their relationship with Fuji will develop into something more advanced than just incorporating lenses on their cameras)

As for the others, well, they kind of already have a product or two in that area of the market, but we'll have to wait and see how they and/or their successors measure up against these speculated up and comers before declaring all out war.

It is fun to dream sometimes! You're right though, they will certainly hit a 2/3" camera sometime soon, as will JVC. As the market shifts deeper into HD, there will be a lot more to choose from, just as there was when DV caught on. One problem for all this stuff right now is the lack of HD delivery.

I shoot a few tv shows on HD. HD is the buzzword among executive producers these days, it just sounds sexier I guess. The problem is, none of these networks have any delivery in HD, so they're basically wasting production money to shoot 16:9 HD and protect 4:3 framing. As for down the road, I would die laughing if any of these shows got replayed when the channels became HD. Even now on true HD broadcast channels, about 1/2 the content is up-rezzed SD, or up-rezzed SD from film origin.

It'll take more than RED to drive an industry-wide swing to true HD broadcast cameras. Right now, there just isn't the demand to make it financially worthwhile. Panasonic and Sony don't make big profits off their broadcast cameras. They barely break even, when you consider r&d. Their real cash cows are the consumer and prosumer cams. From an advertising standpoint, it helps to tout your broadcast or HD cinema chops to show the lineage of your consumer line. But still, if there's no payoff, there's no motivation.

Obviously, JVC and Canon are in good position to release killer cams, and I'm quite sure they will eventually. They may even have prototypes completed. The problem is, there is no universal HD standard, and with 4K cams on the horizon, it pays to wait and let someone else take the jump off the cliff first. If 4K takes off, I'm sure a lot of mfgs will follow suit. But if you have the choice of selling tens or even hundreds of thousands of 1080 cameras or a thousand 4k cameras (at considerably lower profit)...well...

[QUOTE=Jaron Berman]It is fun to dream sometimes! You're right though, they will certainly hit a 2/3" camera sometime soon, as will JVC. As the market shifts deeper into HD, there will be a lot more to choose from, just as there was when DV caught on. One problem for all this stuff right now is the lack of HD delivery.

I shoot a few tv shows on HD. HD is the buzzword among executive producers these days, it just sounds sexier I guess. The problem is, none of these networks have any delivery in HD, so they're basically wasting production money to shoot 16:9 HD and protect 4:3 framing. As for down the road, I would die laughing if any of these shows got replayed when the channels became HD. Even now on true HD broadcast channels, about 1/2 the content is up-rezzed SD, or up-rezzed SD from film origin.

QUOTE]

Yup, I work with a large TV network and you hit it right on the nose. The footage from my XL2 is basically what some people think HD is.

Perhaps Canon are already involved in a certain full size camera project, they do have a lot of expertise with 35mm size sensors!

( this is area 51 after all :) )