Re: Scarlet, a good investment?

If I were you, I'd get a Canon 5D (~$2,500), 7D (~$1,700), or the newly released T2i (~$800) depending on what your definition of "extra cash" is.

With the extra money you can get some killer lenses, light kit (IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT!!!), filters, gels, screens, tripod, audio gear (shotgun, boom, blimp, windscreen, DAR, etc), rail setups, and much much more.

If I were you and I had round about 4-5 k to spend on, this would definitely be the route I would take, without a doubt.

First things first though if you don't have a Mac, GET ONE! I used to be a Windows kid from 3.1 up to just before Vistas release. Believe me when I say that for video professionals, owning a Mac makes a world of difference. Not just the hardware but the accidental networking I've done just while visiting a Mac store is priceless.