Having already jumped to tapeless (SR11, and the CX7), I upgraded the CX7 to the CX12, and it's a fine little camera, very impressed with it so far. Much as with the CX7, it's very "auto", but the choices made by the cam are generally quite good. And there are ways to at least tweak the image processing a bit, not what I'd like, but usable if you've used Sonys before.

Yes, it's a great "family cam/pocket cam", but considering the image quality, unless you knew what it was shot with, you'd be hard pressed to find major flaws...

I think that with the latest generation (SR11/CX12), the end is here or at least near for tape - I'm happier with the image quality I'm getting wih AVCHD than HDV...

What pursuaded me to stay with HDV+Tape (HDR-HC9) ?

1. Has a viewfinder.
2. Has a standard 1/8" mic input.
3. Accepts a standard LANC controller.
4. With all the above plugged in, I can still get a video signal out for an external monitor with a standard manufacturer supplied cable. No need to play 'build your own custom cable' games.
5. With tape, it is self archiving, if that matters. So far, for most of the events I shoot, I capture direct to laptop via FireWire and archive to external USB hard drive.

And frankly, the quality falls into the "quite good enough" upgrade category.
I see the newer sensors+AVCHD codec as being a far smaller, more incremental improvement over HDV.