On Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:27:06 -0700, "Robert D. Morrison" wrote:

> I have been making amateur short movie segments and need to step up
>from an old Ricoh 8 camcorder which won't focus in lowlight situations
>and
>doesn't have a firewire interface to the PC. I've acquired a bit of
>money to
>upgrade, and have been looking at the Canon GL1, XL1s, Panasonic DVC200,
>
>etc. I can't stand Sony stuff and I've avoided JVC in the past. I'm a
>beginner at this, so I'm flying blind. I need the following:
[...]

If you are going to dismiss Sony and JVC, you have removed
all the top choices for what you want to do, making giving
advice to you impractical...;-) If you can get over your
prejudices, look at the VX2000/PD150, and the large JVC
Mini-DV models - these meet your specifications...