Rating: 
Summary: Awsome camera for the $
Review: If you have priced digital cam corders or cameras for that matter, you know you cant touch a good one for under 6 bills, untill now. Got this sharp viewcam about 2 weeks ago and I feel like a one man movie crew.I spent about an hour and a half reading and the same amount of time playing and now feel very farmiliar with it. The features are awsome. This model has a GAMMA BRIGHTENER which allows you to film in low light without the need for external lighting, simply hit the GB button and it lightens the whole picture while keeping great color. The CATS EYE feature is similar but allows you to shoot in NO light situations, awsome! The digital zoom is incredible! Look at the lunar craters through this camera (while using a tripod) it's that good. The different film options B/W, sepia, etc. are neat features although I don't see alot of use for them personaly. Install the smart media card and snap pictures galore, with the card I purchased I can take upto 265 pictures! The only thing I feel is missing is image stabilization, hence the need for the tripod when looking at the moon. If you plan on taking as I do, artistic photographs do not plan on doing that with this camera. As most camcorders this one takes still shots but not high quality. My old Richo 35MM still has it's job. Overall for the price this thing is unbelievable. Highly recomended. Dont waste your money on a 8mm or Vhs when you can be digital. Buy this Sharp!
Rating: 
Summary: We'll see how the second one does
Review: Mine must've been dropped before shipping - I'll write another when the replacement shows up. Two reviews now: One for the camera and one for Amazon customer service. First, the camera. When it arrived just before Christmas, the viewfinder LCD didn't work. The pop out screen worked fine, though, and everything else seemed to work, so we used it to video the family Christmas scene, planning to return it for replacement after the Holidays. As a recorder, it works well. Image Stabilization (digital) works just fine - in a really active scene (or if you shake the camera), you can see some misplaced pixels. Read the manual about the Gamma compensation button, and it makes sense and works well in dimly-lit or back-lit situations. Haven't used the White-Lock function. Cat's eye is cool - used it to take some footage of little ones snuggled in bed Christmas eve. Digital camera on normal mode takes reasonable e-mail snapshots (~60K each)-haven't tried the higher resolutions. Had some problems with playback, and actually ate a tape. I'm hoping that it was a defective camcorder. Anyhow, we'll see with the replacement, and if it's lousy again, we'll send it back. The serial connection to the computer is awful slow to send still pics - like a 28K modem, I would estimate. Reference an earlier review, the s-video connection is in a different location than the RCA plugs. Now for customer service. I'm pretty impressed. I logged on to print a postage-paid return label, and later in the day got an e-mail saying they had pre-emptively shipped a replacement via 2nd-day. I figured they'd wait 'till the got the old one, then ship a new one. Only problem with this deal is that they sent it to the original (vacation) address (I'm back home now). No big deal - they'll refuse delivery, and UPS will then allow me to change the delivery address. I've got 30 days to ship the old unit back. So, 2 stars - camcorder had issues, Amazon is 4-star so far. I'll write another review with the results of the replacement.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible Got 2 both broke within 1/2 year
Review: This the worst. Eats up tape. I smell class action lawsuit, but its not worth it b/c it was so cheap.
Rating:
Summary: Great value for my needs Sharp VL-WD255U digital video cam
Review: The other reviews for the Sharp VL-WD255U made me hesitant about ordering, but I decided to try it to see if it fit my needs. I take photos for a local internet news site and I need acceptable resolution and all the zoom I can get. The Sharp gives me both. The 640 X 480 size is not the sharpest but with image enhancing programs it is more than acceptable for internet use. The FREE program DCENHANCER.EXE from MEDIACHANCE.COM is nothing short of fantastic for improving low light (high noise) digital pics. I bought the 64K card for still shots which gives me over 500 pics of storage. The miniDV tape (which does not come with camera) lets me shoot difficult situations (fireworks, dancers, etc) and lets me 'grab' a frame with included software. Serial cable is included which proved to come in handy with my antique (non USB) computer. The eyepiece viewfinder and LCD screen allow me to shoot easily in almost any circumstance. The powerfull 26X optical zoom is an absolute joy to use. It's bigger in size than regular still digital cameras and I love it. I grew up on older large 35mm and the bigger size of the Sharp is a blessing. I'll still use meagpixel cameras when I need 8X10s, but for my internet work I will almost always uses the Sharp. I don't know of any type digital camera with the features and zoom power of the Sharp for a truly great price after rebate. I ordered on a Sunday and received it on Tuesday.
Rating: 
Summary: Sharp VLWD255U Camcorder A Great Buy!
Review: The Sharp VLWD255U has a lot of great features. The 26x zoom is incredible. Few camcorders offer both a color view finder and color eye piece. Standard RCA connections and cables are included, as well as an S-video jack and an IEEE (firewire) port for video capture and editing on a PC. The camera comes with a very useful remote control and the whole package is very small, light weight, and has good battery life. Best of all, it is easy to use. Even my wife could use it without any instruction. I have used this camera mostly for editing video on my PC. Because this camera is a true digital (not Hi-8 or Digital 8) the transfer quality is very good. While there are not a lot of editing features built in to the camera, like most people, I prefer to do my editing with the software. I have also used this camera as a web cam which works really well. I really like having the still pictures on the media card. This format makes it easy to find the still pictures rather than searching the tape for them. The digital stills are not the same quality as you would see on a digital still camera, but are good for web pictures and other projects of that quality. For high resolution stills, buy a digital still camera. Transfer of stills to the computer is slow over the serial port, but that is my only complaint. Overall, I love this camera and got it for a great price on Amazon. It is easily the best purchase I have made online.
Rating:
Summary: Sharp VLWD255U - AVOID!!!
Review: I bought this camcorder in November of 2001. In the first year I only used it a handful of times and got several "Eject The Cassette" messages. I didn't think much of it because it would work some of the time. After the warranty expired, the "Eject The Cassette" message appeared every time I used it for record or play regardless of what tape (new or used) I put in it. The last straw was when I took it to the Long Beach Gran Prix and it didn't work at all. In addition, the digital camera feature is so low quality that the pictures are not even worth emailing. Very grainy, little color. So, in summary, I have a non-working camcorder that is garbage or needs costly repair after one year. I wouldn't have given this such as harsh review if this was an isolated problem but after doing some research I found this "Eject The Cassette" issue is very common in Sharp camcorders. Unacceptable.
Rating:
Summary: eats tapes; breaks
Review: I get the "eject the cassette" message as well, and Sharp is EXTREMELY unhelpful. I'd say it works without eating tape only about 50% of the time. Pathetic. Absolutely unacceptable. I won't buy other Sharp products in the future either.
Rating:
Summary: Piece of crap
Review: Same problem. After two year I brought this (even I didn't use it so often, about 10 hours total in the past two years), got the same "eject the cassette" problem. I'd never, never brought another Sharp product, period...
Rating:
Summary: The price isn't right if it breaks and costs $379 to fix!
Review: I'm sitting here with the repair estimate for my Sharp in front of me from the one authorized repair facility on the West Coast: "Need to replace drum assembly." Balance due (if I opt to fix it): $378.88. I had to pay a nonrefundable $40 for the estimate, and NO, I'm not going to fix this thing when I can buy something comparable brand new for just a little more. I thought I got a great deal about 2 years ago when I got this and a tripod, case, cables, etc. as a very low-cost holiday promotional bundle. I've used it mostly at demonstrations as a legal observer, and I enjoyed the feature set ("Cat Eye" night vision, image stabilizer, still mode) which is the only reason I'm giving this 2 stars instead of 1. I'll have to pay a bit more to get those same features in my next camera, but I, like the others here, won't be buying a Sharp ever again. Getting a more respected and widely-used brand like a Canon will expand the range of available repair shops, too, if/when my next camera needs some TLC. (Sharp has one in So. Cal., Texas, and New York -- that's it!) I wish these reviews had been here before I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: Bad deal
Review: I used the camera for about a year when the screen scrambling problem arrived. It's the same problem alluded to by many others. Repair facility charges $256. I bought this product because I wanted a digital camcorder for not much money - to get my feet wet. Luckily, I was able to get some footage before it croaked. I would not buy this product or any other camcorder from Sharp. It's not worth it.
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