Re: Sony HVR V1U vs Panasonic AG-HVX200

The advantage of solid state recording over tapes is (a) instant accessibility if desired, and (b) random access. Panasonic's P2 cards are a limited implementation of this due to their high cost, but the concept is a sound one. If flash memory prices continue to drop as quickly as they have been, in 3-5 years or so it should be feasible to record an hour of semi-pro HD footage on a standard card costing under $10, which would make it feasible to use that for archival purposes. I use to be skeptical of this but it's starting to make sense.