After much research, and lots of feedback from the wonderful people on this forum, I bought the DMR-E80H and it's exactly what I wanted.

Got it from http://www.discount-electronic.com for $555. S/h to my PO Box Priority mail was $30, and it arrived in 36 hours. A new record for USPS I'm sure. I asked about double boxing (someone else had done that), but they sounded like they never heard of it. Fortunately the box looked very good when it arrived.

Discount Electronic is already taking orders for the next model, DMR-E100HS, for those interested.

I concur with those who report that the instruction book is pretty lean. Not in pages, but explanation. It tells you HOW to drive the menus, but maybe not everything you want to know about WHY. It's important to read it thoroughly, including all the footnotes and fine print.

I'm a "newbie" in the video area, certainly not a resource for general purpose questions, but I'll be glad to try and answer anyone's questions about this particular model.

Thanks again everyone