"I got the chance to see one of the GVD-1000 MiniDV VCR decks in action the other night; I'm convinced I need one. The feature set of the GVD-1000 makes it a digital video camera without a lens, optimized for reviewing and editing your movies. It's got a screen to 4-inch preview your movie. On board editing features let you specify up to 20 clips on each tape, making it easy to pre-edit or do a rough edit before importing your video into your computer. A Memory Stick slot makes a quick solution for saving reference movies. S-Video and composite video inputs and outputs act as a source for recording virtually any analog video signal or passing through a Hi8 or VHS source directly through FireWire."A very interesting device - not something that I'd personally drop $1200 USD on, but if you're doing a lot of video shooting I can see why this would be useful. Jake brings up the interesting point that this device can record via Firewire, so you can use your camera as nothing more than the lens, and this little device would do the actual recording - thus saving almost all wear and tear on your camera (other than zooming).