Before this upgrade, Apple would allow you to buy a commercial upgrade for an academic license and it would bring you to a commercial status. I am not sure why they are changing this as it seems to fit right into what a lot of students want to do – after school open up their own little shop. Their previous policy was perfect for it. I suspect that this is either inaccurate or Apple is getting really sticky on upgrades.
My guess is that they will do it tomorrow or after in order to let the merger settle in first – too much info on one day means something gets overwhelmed.
I would be surprised if this camera had a tape transport. It has been spelled out pretty well that Panasonic sees P2 as the future and they have also stated that there is no way they could write even DV50 to the minidv tape.
I think it’s just time to move on anyway. P2 is a great concept and the cost will even out over time.