A recent purchaser of a Sony TRV-900 3-chip mini-DV camcorder
was kind enough to shoot-to-order some TRV-900 footage and
send it to me. My first impressions of the TRV-900:

- AF not great in low light (probably as good as VX-1000, not
as good as TRV-9 [which fails in *very* low light]), good in
moderate-to-high light levels
- AWB better than presets in tungsten, *maybe* also better in
daylight... (I prefer using the daylight preset with the VX-1000,
letting AWB take care of things under other types of light)
- VERY slight side-to-side sharpness difference at f1.6 at short
end in this sample, goes away by f2-2.8 (not worth worrying about,
and if one put a too-long shade on the lens, I bet it would
vignette first at the left top and bottom corners in this sample...)
- Lens is good at wide stops throughout its zoom range - an
excellent lens!
- Color is excellent, even in low light, even at maximum gain
(VX-1000 turns toward orange and colors dull - and "grain" may
appear larger...?), with maybe slight loss in sunlight compared
with 1000 (sky blue did not look as good with the TRV-900 as
it does with the VX-1000, but I like the TRV-900 greens [the
TRV-9 fails miserably with its rendering of foliage greens...])
- Bright orange is relatively poorly rendered (it is clean and
saturated in the 1000) - red may not be as good either...
- "Sharpness" artifacts are minimal, and sharpness is excellent
- Sound is excellent, and there is barely audible camera noise
pickup even in a quiet room (at least as good as VX-1000, and
FAR better than the TRV-9 - performance which is amazing for a
built-into-the-body mic)

Overall, this is one great camera! The Panasonic 30U and the
VX-1000 are the only small/light alternatives I have tried.
The Panasonic sound is poorer, its stabilizer is unuseable,
its color is really excellent (and probably better in very low
light than the Sony's - though it does show sharpness edge-effect
artifacts), and it's more expensive. The VX-1000 is bigger and
heavier and more expensive, but it has custom picture-adjustment
controls (and maybe a bit more of a "pro" look, if that is important...;-).
Purdy gud fer a ty-nee kam-kor-dr!!!