Not until the format war is over.

I'd rather have a point and shoot take raw than vid.

@schrutebuck, dwight-schrute: Oooh, semi-dupe commenter handles! A hard Rainn's gonna fall...

stereo or 5.1 audio recording would be good too....

Currently it's crisp 720p video, and MONO sound. Yikes!

Only Canon's S5 IS records stereo (prove me wrong kids!) and even offers wind noise reduction.

I just bought one last night specifically for that feature! : )

@Jason: X2, i'll wait for at least stereo.

the older S3 IS did stereo too

I think the bigger questions is -- what are we doing with all of this electronic goodness? Does anyone else have the same problem that you take videos of your family or big events, and you never watch it again? Does anyone actually wake up at night and say 'wow, I want to watch Susie's fifth birthday party again!'

It is great that the technology is (getting) there now where we can take great videos anywhere we want, but I wonder whether it is something that our grandkids will just be deleting after our bodies are dust.

hell you spend thousands on wedding photo and video, how many times do watch that?

Persoanlly, I want the camera to take better pictures first than add new features that also sucks.

High ISO settings with low noise is often a better feature than anything else. Now add a fast lens and we are good to go!
M

I'd rather the manufacturers work on better lenses and reduced sensor noise than jacking the megapixel count and throwing lame features at us like HD video clip recording and other such nonsense.

@f0rge: Yep, my S2IS recorded stereo audio. If the camera would have lasted longer than 18 months (same as several of my friend's S2ISs) I would have bought the S5IS.

@Monty:

Good point. One of the things I do a lot these days with video is posting them on blogs/SNS sites that I belong to. For that purpose, the ease with which you can take video with a camera (I'm currently using a non-HD, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 for a lot of video) and transferring it over to the computer is optimal.

I also have a kid, and even though I have a Victor (JVC) DV camera I got when he was born 4 years ago, I hardly ever use it now because it's rare that I'll prep myself for a feature-length video footage. Rather, I'll always carry around my digital camera (as will my wife), take tons of pictures, and capture short clips of video when deemed appropriate.

These little clips get stored/catalogued in iPhoto, some will get shared with relatives via e-mail, blogs, etc., and once a year, I'll take the best clips, and whip out a simply edited montage of a year's worth of footage to burn on a DVD, to distribute to the grandparents.

Again, for these purposes, the "video on my digital camera" is so much more convenient. Therefore, I'm all for HD vid on digital cameras, and I'm currently seriously considering the TZ5 (have been a Lumix fan since my previous FZ7).

The frame rate is only 15fps on the Panasonics, so not really for serious video recording, I would rather have a regular file size at at least 30fps. It's a gimmick now but eentualy the capability will be there and small digital cameras should be able to perform as well as the Sanyo HD1000 which is larger but does the job right now with high quality 60fps HD recording.

I really must be the last person in the US who doesn't have (or even want for that matter) a camera.

Getting a cameral like this to handle the lighting needed for indoor use will be the trick...most of the camcorders on the market now can't even do that very well unless you spend as least $600+.

@The LED Watch Store: Actually, I just checked that, and it's not true—the new Panasonic TZ5 does do 30fps at 720p. From the fact sheet:

HD（16:9 Aspect Ratio）: 1280x720 30fps, 15fps

@The LED Watch Store: I think your facts are mixed up. The Panasonic TZ4/5 can record 30fps @ 720p.

@Jason: Sorry to cut you off while you're agreeing with me, but TZ4 doesn't do HD recording, just my future beloved TZ5.

I'll buy this camera if it does a better job shooting fast, non-blured non-grainy shots in low light than my Canon SD800 IS. More than half my shots are at concerts. If it can shoot video, fine. But it's not a selling point.

For me it's

1)Increased zoom on the small compact ones
2)Rugged waterproof etc
3)video

How'd you know bout dem disposable cameras? Who's da rat? Why I'm gonna...

I own a DSLR. A not terribly great DSLR, but a good one. So the only thing drawing me back to point and shoots is video, and the only way they'd do that is not by bigger resolutions but higher framerates.

So to summarize:
Yes if we can have +100 fps. Otherwise, no.

my point-and-shoot does underwater 15fps VGA video. it's enough honestly.

although a waterproof PnS with 720p video would be a fun little toy....

Interestingly enough, I actually did buy a Canon TX1 for it's video capability (720p30), and more amazing, I wanted MJPEG. I make videos of my hobby ("3D" RC Helis). MJPEG gives better interframe motion clarity, so I don't end up amplifying Mpeg2/4 based motion artifacts during editing. My friend's and I tried using camcorders but found that my digital camera (S3IS) did much better than the camcorders did with the motion.

[nwheli.com] (most of the vids on this link are from my TX1)

I voted option number 2 just for laughs.
But really... unless they can shove a port for external mic, and a better way to handle those digicams, it's only useful to get shaky shitty HD videos no one will watch.

But yeah, since someone started the trend, it will become the next must have feature.
That and stuff like 120fps video.

But I'll probably just cash some money to buy an HDD or DVD cam with external mic input.
Too bad it's kinda of a rare feature for amateur cams...

I believe the Kodak V1253 does 720p/30fps/stereo. My problem is - once you have high def video on your computer - how do you put it on a medium that can be played on your tv? Would you have to burn it to BluRay or HD-DVD to keep the 720p quality or is there a way to play 720p video on standard DVD players?

me leica

@jessenj:

Obviously, a standard DVD player isn't going to be able to do 720p, as DVDs can't do 720p. However, I'm guessing that if you have an up-converting DVD player that can output 720p/1080i which can ALSO do DivX/Xvid, WMV, or x.264, then that should be able to output pretty much what you take using a camera like this.

Of course, another way would be to connect a Media Center type computer and output using DVI/HDMI. That's what I've been doing with some 720p videos I got on my HD.

If a camera can do HD at 30fps it would mean that the sensor must be so fast to capture that it should have good noise capabilities at normal picture making too wouldn't it? And perhaps to enable that in higher resolutions they will work on reducing noise just to make the video function work!

yeah,i really need HD as i convert all my video to 200x200 pixels for youtube ^-^