The video quality is superb, as is ease of use. Here are a few hints and things I noticed. The battery out of the box will not power-on the camera and needs some minutes of charge to even show 0%. You can operate the camera from the charger but the battery is not being charged, says the manual.

There are two 1920x1080 picture quality modes: MXP at 24 mbps and FXP at 17 mbps -- and three at 1440x1080: XP+, SP and LP, at 12, 7 and 5 mbs, respectively. I believe it defaults to LP out of the box, which is 1440x1080 at 7 mbps. I suggest you select FXP to get true 1920x1080 resolution. Upping to 24 mbps might be a good idea only if you are going to do a lot of post editing -- I can't see an improvement over FXP. Recording times with a 16GB card are 1:25, 2:05, 2:50, 4:45 and 6:05, respectively.

When the camera is OFF, pressing the DISP button (on the camera body) will show battery capacity in minutes and percent. Pressing DISP when ON turns the LCD to max brightness. IOW, you can set the LCD brightness for normal indoor use with the menu and instantly set it bright for outdoor use. Handy.

The CINE mode seems to digitally soften the image; there may some color change but I didn't notice it from the shots I took in a park. The PF30 and PF24 rates show a jerkiness when panning as you would expect from a lower frame rate. I think these rates are simulated because all recording is done at 60i. For example when I played back PF24 stepping one frame at a time I saw the same image for 3 steps, then the next. (The "3 steps" varies with both PF24 and PF30.) OTOH, PF24 is useful in low light situations as it permits the HF200 slow the shutter speed down to 1/6 sec.

Previous Canon users will find the menu system easy and familiar, similar even to their still cameras. The joystick is "big" and has a positive, definite feedback feel to it. Menu navigation seems easier and clearer than earlier Canons I've used. There is even a Large Font choice. Good!

The Power On button is deep in a groove that makes it unlikely to accidentally turn on. But with your right hand in the nice grip you have to use the left to press it On - my fingers don't reach. No loss, you need the other hand to open the LCD panel anyway. The zoom lever on top is a middle finger control. The adjacent Photo button is for a trained index finger. Record, at the back, is thumb operated. You can also use an LCD panel button to Record.

The Quick Start feature means you can close the LCD to save power (runs at 1/3 normal) and be ready to shoot in about 1 sec after opening it. Note, if you close the LCD panel while recording it will continue to record -- so slamming it shut does not stop the shot.

The still photo features are quite amazing. The resolution is 3 megapixels, but a very good 3mp! You can shoot continuously at 3 or 5 frames/sec. And you can shoot at the same fast frame rates with flash! The flash is actually a high-power white LED, not a xenon tube. There is a separate warm-white LED for video that works OK to 5-6 feet.

There are the usual auto white balance, auto exposure, instant focus features and so on that you can read about above. There's face detection for proper focus. They all work very well. I like the Vivid color setting for most all shooting - video and photo. It is a slight pump in saturation that helps if you mainly view using your laptop LCD. Instant AutoFocus is aptly named. There is a fairly large IAF sensor next to the lens for this purpose. The 15x zoom, a first for me, is fully useful all the way out. Impressive.

Battery life (BP-809) takes a definite second place to 16GB storage. I just checked and it indicates 100%, 94 minutes. But you can of course buy larger batteries. (I use the smaller BP-808 battery from my FS100 SD video cam as a backup.) With the Quick Start feature (can be turned off) power is used between shots and this will generally use more juice that actual recording. Figure 3 to 5 times battery vs video: one hour of video needs 3+ hours of battery cap. Unless you buy a charger you must charge in the camera. Only one sample so far, but it seemed to take a little more than an hour to charge from 0%.

The supplied Pixela software is minimal. You can combine up to 99 shots into an M3TS file. It can be played on video players like Popcorn Hour and the WD HD TV player. (I have both and strongly recommend the $99 WD over the $230 PCH. The PCH can connect to Internet servers, its main claim to fame.) These players can also play the MTS format directly copied from the SD card but there is a 1-2 sec delay between each shot. Pixela lets you pick and chose shots, trim a given shot, and add titles and audio. I don't know how to get past the 99 shot limit with Pixela -- I made about 170 shots in the park yesterday.

All in all, I luves it.