Re: Another boring "choose a basic camera!" thread.

We're looking at JVC's hm150 too (or a second hand hm100 if we can't afford it - the 100 seems to have worse low-light performance but is almost identical in many other respects).
I don't know if I'm missing any other cameras on my list, but the JVC seems to be the only one with
1. 24, 25 and 29.97-based frame rates (so we can match it with our 25fps 550D and PAL DVDs and also our little cheap 29.97fps cameras). And 24fps is ideal for making in-house DCPs for our cinema.
2. phantom power XLRs
3. SDHC storage without complicated capture workflow (I use premiere mostly, but also a bit of FC Pro)

The removable handle/xlr bit is attractive too.

I just don't know if it's reliable; our last JVC product (a DV deck) worked fine, but didn't like the DV tapes from our XM1 and 2 cameras very much.