Ha ha, I didn’t realize it would start a mini flame war.
HDV is alright for what it is. Some cameras look better than other, and for corporate stuff it’s just fine.
I hate HDV in post for how unwiedly it is. As a format for editing I’d rather stangle myself. Have it converted to something like DVPRO-HD or even DV anamorphic for offline editing. Personally I would look into the Varicam if you can afford it.
We’re rigged for D5, HDCAM, and DVCPRO-HD here, which plays very well with all our other pro gear. Just recently I got some footage shot on Canon XL-H1 in 25F mode – which looks pretty good – but I don’t even want to start ranting about how f’ing difficult it was to get into FCP in any sort of useful editing format….