On Sat, 04 Aug 2001 21:20:03 +0800, Fuji Sartono wrote:

>I'm about to purchase my first MiniDV camera. I don't care for about
>all the other bells and whistles, all i care about is 1) video quality
>and 2) firewire/iLink/1394 compatibility.
>
>With this in mind, which MiniDV camera should I get?

As John Beale points out, this is a question without an
easy answer - but, when did that ever stop anyone from
trying...?! ;-) At the high-priced end, the JVCs (big,
heavy, expensive); next, the VX2000/PD150 (MUCH smaller
and lighter, with generally more useful auto controls, but
less useful manual controls - and some say the picture is
about as good as the JVCs, and better than the XL-1 [I
did not find the XL-1 particularly outstanding in picture
quality - the VX2000/PD150-JVC are outstanding at this
level]); for a noticeably less expensive 3-chipper, the
Sony TRV900 is quite good (more on this at:
www.bealecorner.com and at [for this and others]:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder-comparison.htm ),
and for one-chippers, the Sony PC110-100/TRV20-30 are
surprisingly good, small, and fairly inexpensive, from
here, it is downhill, but with a few notable stops along
the way (I was surprised by the TRV11-17/PC5-9 Sony
camcorders - and they are very small and light and
moderately-priced). So, pick your level...;-)