On Wed, 30 Sep 1998 07:14:24 GMT, Gerard wrote:

>How good is the TRV 900 in low light? It's rated 4 lux whereas my TRV65
>has a lux rating of 0.7 lux. I find it hard to believe a single chip
>hi-8 will do better than a 3 chip DV in low light, I believe the Hi-8 is
>also a 1/4 " CCD. My main use of the TRV900 (if I get it) would be to
>record bands in clubs where the stage lighting will sometimes be bad.
>Do you think it will perform well under good stage lighting? How about
>poor stage lighting?
>
>I will appreciate any info. ASAP as I am thinking of purchasing it
>Wednesday or Thursday for a show this weekend.

Much as I prefer the Sony models for their MUCH better stabilizer
systems, if low-light ability is of greatest importance, I would
consider the Panasonic models (or the Canon XL-1). I have a TRV-9
which has VERY poor low-light ability (except in "night-shot"
mode, which when used with no filter and in black-and-white mode,
produces excellent [B&W...] video even under darkroom safelight...).
My VX-1000's are far better in low light than the TRV-9 (and one
person compared the VX-1000 with his TRV-900, and found it slightly
worse in low light), but when I compared the VX-1000 with the Pan 30U
three-chipper, the VX-1000 was subtly inferior in moderate daytime
room light (so I expect the 30U to be somewhat better than the
VX-1000 in low light [which may be somewhat better than the TRV-900
in low light...], as the Panasonic AG-EZ1U is...). The Canon XL-1
has the reputation for good low-light ability, also. Lux ratings
appear to be useless, as are predictions from chip number, size, etc.
(the three-small-chip VX-1000 is better in low light than my
one-large-chip Canon A-1 Digital Hi-8, for instance, which "should"
be better...).
So, for a compact, good-in-low-light 3-chip DV camcorder (if the
stabilizer will not be used), the choice is probably the Panasonic
30U (or maybe the EZ1U). If a large camcorder is OK, the Canon
LX-1 may be a better choice. The VX-1000 is still a reasonable
choice. If light levels are high enough, the TRV-900 may just
squeak through as acceptable. (For good light, I still prefer
the mix of features/advantages of the VX-1000.)
After saying all this, I should point out that even the TRV-9
produced some rather nice late evening color video at the N Y State
Fair midway recently...
Good luck in choosing!