Sony has announced a new field recorder and playback device, the GV-HD700E HDV Walkman. It’s a DV and HDV deck equipped with a 7″ 800×480 LCD screen. The “All-Scan” feature ensures that you are seeing 100% of the video frame with no overscan. There are no component inputs, just RCA, S-Video, and Firewire (or as Sony insists on calling it, “i.LINK”). Outputs include HD/SD component, HDMI, and of course iLINK. It is compatible with L-series Infolithium batteries. There is no price info available at this time, expect a September release in Europe with a likely stateside release soon thereafter.

So it’s a field playback and backup recording device, not really aimed at monitoring. It’s a shame there is no component input, as the 800×400 resolution would probably be sufficient for monitoring. Sony states in the press release that signals input from i.LINK are passed through to the HDMI output. So I suppose that you could backup record from a camcorder via FW, and simultaneously pass that signal through to a HDMI equipped display. Thats a lot of cables running around though, and the HDV Walkman is a bit bulky for on-camera mounting. Any other workflow ideas?