In lots of ways and for lots of purposes small sensor compact video is often preferable to DSLR video. The larger DOF resulting in less "hunting" for focus, and in Sonys case a very good stabilisation system can make a camera like this very useful indeed. When I was shooting wedding videos I always had a small sensor camcorder as well as my Canons and GH1 and it was better for certain situations.
If anyone ever asks me about a camera for "domestic" video then I would always reccommend something like this, with the proviso that low light performance won't be as good. But even then, with decent noise reduction and the fact that the video size (even HD) is quite small, good results can be obtained.
I'm not a fan of these cameras for stills, but I've always got good results using them for video.
However if (when) Sony sort out the overheating problem on the A55 then thats a camera that handles both stills and video brilliantly. 16MP for stllls, brilliant low light performance and an absolutely superb stabilisation system that makes hand held video look really slick.
In the meantime this looks very good indeed. Sony know a thing or two about video.
