I have had the chance to use this camera a few times, plus compare it to some other HD cameras out there in it's price range, and came away impressed by a few aspects, and more knowing about a few others to consider.
All in all this is a great little HD camera that takes great pictures right out of the box. It handles really nice, has a true microphone that comes with it, and the lens is great on it with it's 20x ratio. It's slow-motion, though at quality a little less than SD, looks fantastic and is great fun to play with. The camera's low light capability is not as good as the Canon XH-A1 in the same price range, or the Panasonic HVX200 (another $2k+), or as good as the older Sony Z1 (which doesn't shoot 24fps). Looking back, the Sony PD170, which was the low-light standard is about 2 stops better in very low light. But the V1u's low light performance is almost one of taste. The camera tends to give a little more fine grain in such low light, kind of like film in some ways. My guess is that this "effect" is pleasing to some people, who don't view it's low-light grainy issues as a problem. Test for yourself before buying. The display and viewfinder are very nice too. Very sharp, with great readout info, including histograms, making sure every shot is properly exposed. The camera also has a really nice automatic gain control. Much better than the Canons in it's price group. Nice focusing features too.
The camera is also part of a larger packaged idea it doesn't come with, but works perfectly with a portable hard drive (HVR-DR60) that allows you go HDMI out, for much less compressed picture (though most people will think going to tape looks fine) and those files can be dragged and dropped right onto your computer no more capturing! The LED light is really cool too. Again, these are extra cost.
Pros -
Gorgeous picture quality in most all lighting conditions. Doesn't require a lot of tweaking, it looks good almost all the time right out of the box. But if you want to tweak, you can. If you want to really tweak, consider the Canon line-up.
True 24fps, and true progressive chips, for filmmaking. Great film like gamma curves.
Feels great in your hand. Very well balanced.
True 20x zoom lens. The 30x digital zoom looks terrific!
Nice zoom and focus ring. I was expecting lower quality.
CMOS chips have very nice lack of smearing you see on most cameras that have CCD chips (those sharp vertical lines you see when taking footage of sunsets, for example) and the chips have a certain film like look to some more than other video cameras with 24fps features (including me).
Comes with a true microphone while not a $500 Sennheiser, it's better than most any other on-board camera, which is a nice extra.
Slow motion, if lower quality, looks really cool (up to 240 fps!). Very usable for video going to regular DVD (not HD) or to the web.
Cool HDMI out, with other accessories (not included) such as shooting to hard drive, or a neat LED light.
Con's -
Questionable low-light capability. If you're shooting a lot of night time shots, dark indoors (horror movies, dimly lit interviews) you really need to test and compare this to other cameras before buying. If you're shooting regular footage, especially a lot of outdoor, daylight, or professionally lit work, it shouldn't be an issue at all.
Cost is about $500 more than Canon's comparable XH-A1 (which doesn't come with the microphone).
Files that go to the HVR-DR60 HD are .m2t format, which must be converted if you're using a Mac (though still usable and convertible on the Mac).
As good as the lens is, I believe the Canon is better, and has better image stabilizing capability.
In summary, this is a great little camera for most uses, with a somewhat unique picture to it. Just about anyone going into a store to shop for one can easily compare this to similar cameras and see the features and issues I speak of. They should answer your questions right away whether this camera is for you or not.
Finally, a price comparison:
For $500 less, you can buy a Canon A1, which works better in low light, has more picture control, plus a better image stabilizer. But it's a little bigger, can't go HDMI out, has no slow motion, and doesn't come with a pro microphone.
For $2k more you can buy Panasonic's HVX200, which has superior compression, and solid state capability, and slow motion in high definition (not down res'd, like the Sony).
For $3k more, you can buy Sony's new XDCAM PMW-1, which is an extremely impressive camera with a superior picture to any of these cameras.
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