Yay!  I've always wondered what you guys use to shoot stuff, and good tips all around. 
 
Good luck at Comic Con Ana and Norm! 
 
Also, srsly don't rob Ana please.

Wow, a hiker backpack... Guess that is the sturdiest type which is nice for walking around with expensive camera equipment. And that leaves me with a question, when DO you walk around with that stuff? Just conventions? 
Love the tape by the way - never seen that before in a camera bag.

I personally feel validated that I have a lot of the same equipment (bag, monopod, etc) as Ana, right down to the Threadless hoody.
It's like I'm a professional!

lol. I hope nobody robs you.

lol I love how nonchalant Ana is about the camera "err yeah, it's a camera...pcmcia what? it's p2. I'm just gonna shove this camera here. What's that you've holding Will? Oh that, yeah it falls off a lot"
 
Classic.

Thanks for showing the equipment you use! I knew it had to be expensive but wow!

Ana... During the Con I'll help you carry some stuff...
Maybe the tape...

Is there a serious advantage to using the expensive camera and bulky memory cards? How would a thousand dollar smaller camera from costco or best buy work? Could plug in 64gig SDhc cards in all day. 
 
Cool Video, nifty stuff.

@Collin: You've gotta assume that they don't want to sacrifice quality, but that these are probably the cheapest way to "do karate in sweatpants" that they could find. 
 
@Zaph: She was probably just trying to keep the video as short as possible.  It's her job to edit and post it after all.

Damn you, Tested!  I'm buying those headphones now. 
 
I hope they fit on my large head. 
 
edit: Actually, now I'm debating between the few bucks cheaper Merkury Innovation off of Amazon, or the Auvio headphones. One was recommended by Ana, one was not.  They look basically the same, though.

The monopod is a revelation! Cool to see Ana again, she is missed when not on CV's (and the dead AV) podcast.

Oh cool to see Ana again, I haven't heard from her since AV's podcast died with the loss of gia/john

@Collin: People tend to think that resolution is king, but really the lens has a lot to do with visual quality too. 1080i video is definitely possible on smaller cameras, but it just won't look as good. There's also things like sensor size to consider, but one of the main selling points of cameras like this, especially the HVX200 (the other model they use) is versatility. You can shoot a range of different formats and speeds. Like Will was saying, you can also adjust tons of other settings to get exactly what you want. The HPX170, and it's bigger, older brother the HVX200 are used all over the entertainment industry. Films, Reality TV, Live events, Web video (like we see here), and anything in between.

@will:  To answer your comment about XLR cable, I'm fairly certain (going from my summer semester audio production class) that compared to 1/8-inch headphone jacks, XLR are superior on signal quality purposes.   
 
Looking at my notes, the audio quality hierarchy goes as follows: 
 
Optical Cable - best 
XLR and TRS - 2nd 
1/4 inch - 3rd 
Composite/RCA cables - 4th 
1/8 inch (headphone jacks) - 5th 
 
So in the case of recording, you wouldn't want fiber optic because of how thin and fragile they are, so you tend to go with XLR.

Excellent mail bag, id defiantly hate to be robbed while carrying that around. 

@Zaph said:

" lol I love how nonchalant Ana is about the camera "err yeah, it's a camera...pcmcia what? it's p2. I'm just gonna shove this camera here. What's that you've holding Will? Oh that, yeah it falls off a lot"  Classic. "

that's just how i roll

Ana is definitely my favorite pseudo-ethnic, behind-the-scenes/occasionally on-camera personality at Whiskey Media.