Canon’s brand-spankin-new HV20 HDV model was released in Japan recently, and consumer video geeks everywhere have been wetting their collective pants over the news. Well now it seems that the camera will officially be arriving here in the States in April for around $1100. The HV20 is no doubt aimed squarely at the consumer market, but it includes some suprisingly juicy features.

*24 fps from a progressive CMOS sensor
*”Cinema” color mode (I know, these modes are always a crapshoot but we’ll see)
*Instant AF autofocus system
*3 lux light sensitivity
*HDMI output

The HV20 is the successor of the HV10 crown. The HV10 has proven to be one of the more popular models of the last year, and didn’t fare poorly in reviews either. Camcorderinfo put the HV10 up against a Sony HC3 and was very positive about the Canon. They suggested the HC3 had an advantage though, due in no small part to it’s included HDMI port (the HV10 doesn’t have HDMI). So it will be interesting to see the reviews of this new model.

UPDATE: B&H is now accepting pre-orders on the HV20.