Follow up

"The raw .MTS files from your MemoryStick Micro/Pro can be copied directly to a DVD, renamed as .M2TS, and played at full resolution directly in your PS3"

But can this DVD be played on anything else other than a PS3/Sony device? Still fiddly: as have to rename the file.

"your PS3"..."your MemoryStick Micro/Pro":

Agree with @handle: too much proprietary lock-in Sony here, not enough versatile inter-operability between different products. Sounds like what I would hear at the local Sony Centre shop. Fine if you want to stick with all-Sony though.

Fact still remains: No complete simple chain of solution. Such a thing needs 1) the camera to record in 1080p at 24p in H.264 2) a standalone Blu-ray recorder to directly accept this from a memory card straight onto a standard Blu-ray recordable. Panasonic come close to this but use proprietary AVCHD like Sony do. Quite expensive too.

For the rest of us who want quick archiving from memory card to reasonably permanent robust Blu-ray rather than remaining on the more delicate, wipeable memory card (which we want to re-use anyway) there is the plethora of dreaded PC-based (or Mac or Linux) solutions. Fine if you are working on a masterpiece with editing tools at disposal but not if too busy to want to bother and need a quick simple archive solution. Fine if you want to wait for the tedious boot ceremony of a PC (etc.). Fine if its you that's doing it; not fine if it's your dear old technology challenged relatives that want to, unless you want all your free time consumed being their technical support. So they rushed this camera out without thinking of the whole picture - pardon the pun, just like many other manufacturers have. Some poor souls will buy it then face the burden of managing their precious recordings.

@Aaron10: thanks for explaining 1080i: So for 1080i at 60Hz this would mean field 1 is all the odd 540 lines displayed at once (1,3,5...1079), spaced out/interleaved by black blank lines where the evens would be (2,4,6...1080). Then frame 2 is all even lines displayed at once (2,4,6...1080) spaced out/interleaved with black blank lines where the odds would be (1,3,5...1079).

As with all interlaced standards, there will be a comb effect seen where there is motion, i.e. edges of moving objects will have a comb-like pattern due to the interleaving. This may or may not be noticeable depending on the scene, the recording equipment, the display, the distance of the view from the display, their vision.

As for 1080i "Should this standard die? Yes and no" Yes because it is clearly inferior to 1080p and incompatible with Blu-ray and no because we need to support legacy for a while yet perhaps.