True Ethan, the HV20 can look sexy but the HMC70 will always be ugly.

Something like this doesn't look too consumerish.

The Canon still look like a pimped consumer cam

Do a search on Vimeo for the Panasonic HMC70/71.
When I did that I was pretty suprised, very nice picture.

Cheers

Hans

PS. I found a test: http://www.videomaker.com/article/13695/

One of my current cameras is a Panasonic DVC60 with 3 1/4" chips. Any thoughts if the HMC70 would perform as well if not better as a DVC60? I've been very happy with the dvc60.