Re: Most Vegas Pros Use Panasonic DVX-100 Camera

first, probably the best website for the camera is www.dvxuser.com - a lot of industry professionals (including the people at panasonic who develop the camera) monitor the site and you can learn a lot.
as for the "film look," that seems to depend on who you talk to. in terms of the dvx, that means adjustable gamma curves meant to emulate a higher dynamic range and the light response of actual film stock. Other people will tell you its a shallow depth of field and softer detail in the image. 24p is a direct result of the initiative for video to emulate film, since 35mm is shot at 24 fps, and there is no interlacing on a piece of film. and generally, people say it just looks better.
as for hdv, all i've heard is negative reviews. it still has trashy color sampling like dv and although it does record at hd resolutions, it is a highly compressed format that isnt good with motion and is actually more taxing on an editing system than DVCProHD. so i would suggest (if you have the money) the panasonic hvx-200 which is essentially all the features of the dvx, but in HD with added goodies like tapeless recording, DVC50, and variable frame rates.