On Sun, 28 Oct 2001 11:36:01 -0700, "E.B." wrote:

>As I do most of my shooting in "frame" mode I'm happy with my XL1 as the
>Sony cameras look like crap in that mode. (I haven't seen the new VX2000 or
>PD150 picture in that mode yet, but the 1000 was god awful.) So in this
>case, when I bought the camera 2 years ago it was the best out there for the
>price range.

Not being a believer in messin' up motion-video by
using "frame" or "PS" mode, this is not an issue for me.
BTW, the VX1000 never had these modes... Also BTW, the
PS mode of the VX2000/PD150 is optimized to produce the
best possible stills (and they are VERY good, given the
640x480 resolution - see sample at:
http://www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/sony_dcr-vx2000.htm
[first image], or all the images at:
www.nikonlinks.com/ruether ). Motion-video shot in
PS mode with these cameras does look terrible. But so
(to me) does the "fluttery" look of motion shot with
other cameras in these modes - why duplicate in video
a failing of film?

>Comparing a Canon with 4-year-old technology with brand new Sony cams is a
>bit skewed if anyone is going to make grand generalizations about the
>companies. JVC and Panasonic are up there, too. Obviously it's time for
>Canon to come up with a new model and not the same old thing with nice
>(albeit very nice) bells and whistles. Right now the market seems to be
>going to Sony.

Yes - but the checking of the camcorders available a
couple of years ago indicated that the picture of the
VX1000 (that predated all the others except the Panasonic
AG-EZ1U) was still superior (and is still superior...)
to what Canon and others except Sony produced
later in "handycam"-format camcorders...;-) (See:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder-comparison.htm.)
From that, perhaps one *can* make a valid grand
generalization...;-)