On Tue, 30 Oct 2001 18:03:03 -0700, "Robert D. Morrison" wrote:

>Yup, as I mentioned in another response, several Sony consumer products
>have been a bad experience for me. I'm leery of trusting them with
>a complex mechanism such as a videocam, but I definitely will take
>another look at both the JVC and Sony VX2000.

Sony gear at the VX2000 level is used by the BBC and other
large organizations, and it and the similar PD150/250 are
popular production cameras for small video houses, too.
The JVC shoulder-mount Mini-DV camcorders are also popular
with small production houses. Both offer some advantages
over most alternatives (the Panasonic 200 is too new to
know much about). The VX2000 has proven very reliable, and
Sony US has a flat-rate repair service for Mini-DV that is
a bit under $300 and a tad less than 3 weeks to use (and it
is reliable). I agree with you that Sony is hard to
communicate with, and I also avoid any but top-grade Sony
audio gear (I don't like the Sony "sound" in their low end
gear...). FWIW, the Sony VX1000 had a production run of
about 5 years, and proved to be a very reliable (and very
good, even by current standards) Mini-DV camcorder. BTW,
several Mini-DV camcorders are (critically... - I see no
point in "gush" reviews...;-) reviewed at:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder-comparison.htm