Frank, what did Littman say made the 953 stripped down compared to the MX5000? Anything specific?
I couldn't find any thing about it at his site. The specks at Panasonic sound just like the MX500/0.

He didn't say anything specific, just that comment. But he said that he will post these stripped features on his website. So I keep checking.

Even if the 953 is stripped down, I think it would depend on which features are missing that would make it a concern.

If the 953 is the MX5000, I'm going to definitely check it out, and depending on the Canadian price, I will strongly consider buying one---or a PAL MX500. I'm thinking about giving away my last MX300 to a family member---that is if I buy a 953 or MX500A---depending on price. The AU and Canadian price will be much higher than the Japanese and American price----I'm sure Canadians would agree about the high rip-off prices in Canada. It's much cheaper to buy in the USA, even after converting to the higher US Dollar, shipping and GST/PST. Not for all cams, mind you; a good example would be with the VX2000.

I emailed onecall about when they might have these in stock. I was pleasantly shocked when they replied 4 hours later (still waiting on panasonic's response) that they expect them in stock in 1-2 weeks.

So I guess at the latest that would be march 19th.

As far as being a stripped down version, won't they have the same picture producing elements 3chips/lense/dv recording?

That's all that really matters to me! Any sound/editing features that are left out should be able to be done in post I would guess.

In Stock! onecall.com $1349

Plus for frank there is a website on pricegrabber that ships to canada too :)

Thanks, Jed! I just found out that the PV-DV953 will be selling for $2500 Canada - http://www.leoscamera.com - and it won't be available for another month (here in Canada).