Rating: 
Summary: Finally Here! 10 Days In Transit, Noisy Zoom, Read ON....
Review: Finally Here, Ten days in the Hands of UPS, (order placed 11/19, delivered 11/29, 6:30 p.m.) for some strange reason the package was standing STILL, not going Anywhere, for Almost 5 days at UPS, Lexington, KY., (as You'All know,You CAN track your order thru Amazon now),so I unpackaged everything, attached the battery, power on, (voltage at 7.52, out of the package)and I hear as I worked the Zoom IN and OUT, a click, click, click, a definite sign of Lacking Quality Control at Sharp, something is NOT right in the Zoom mechanism!, furthermore when you playback, the NOISE very annoyingly amplifies thru your TV speaker, as I looked at my first couple of minutes of video, lines streaked accross the image, left to right, at ramdon, they did seem to clean up after playing the sample test 5 to 6 times, ....Dirty Heads from the Factory? I don't know !
The video looks comparable, no better than, my Sony Hi8, maybe the limiting factor is my 10 year old 25" Zenith, seems to pick up sounds very well, so does my Sony !
The Whole Package is very complete, SmartMedia card NOT included,
no biggie, 32Mb., best price at Amazon, 265 pictures at Fine Resolution !, NOT included Strap to hang camcorder around neck, Soo What's in the Package? a CD with PixLab Lite ver.1.0 software, PC connecting cable to RS-232C (parallel port), detachable power cord ( Connects to battery charger, of course, included ), included, what I call a dummy battery, with cord attached that connects to battery charger and enables the camcorder to run off of AC ( nice! ), audio/video cable, lens cap, lithium battery ( memory backup for camcorder ), remote control 2 AA batts included, something of Note: I called Sharp to inquire about the accessory Microphone, Don't Even think about it, Please, don't expose yourself to the Rage and Fury and Mistreatment of Sharp Customer Service, it is Second to None !
This is a Review In Progress, simply because, before December is over, I'm gonna have a replacement VL-WD255U, that I hope is silent and comes with Clean Heads ! Oh, the photo mode is a Bonus that comes with the Camcorder, don't even expect pictures comparable to a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, but then you CAN Zoom where no other Digital Camera, At Any $$ Price, has ever been before, the 26X Zoom is Awesome !, don't go TOO much into the digital, you will see the Pixels real quick.
It's Dec. 5, Replacement Camcorder is Here ! Really Great Costumer Service At Amazon, Zoom is Totally Silent, Heads are Clean, records and plays OK, BUT, persistant little BLUE DOT in the middle of the LCD monitor ( I wonder where the Next one is gonna show up ? ), that's the FLY in the milk ! LCD monitor, right out of the box, HAS too much looseness, feels like is at about to drop off of camera, Oh! Well, I'm at about to throw the Towel, Sharp Quality Control.....STINKS !
Rating: 
Summary: The camera ate my first tape
Review: Received this camera as a gift. It was great out of the box. Everything seemed to work as advertised, that is, until I tried to rewind my first tape in order to view it. Half-way through rewinding it halted and told me to eject the tape. I complied. However, upon each subsequent attempt to load the tape (this is the first tape I've put through the machine) it told me to "eject the tape." The instruction manual explains this error message to mean that the tape is "defective" and to use another. But...You see, I recorded onto this tape with no problem. Now, upon trying to view the tape it tells me it's defective. My explanation for how the tape became suddenly defective? Yup, the camera ate the tape. There are obvious wrinkles and tears in the tape. But wait, it gets better. I continued to try to insert the tape (doggedness, I suppose.) Now the tape is stuck in the camera. It will not eject. I can find no way to manually remove the tape. Looks like I'll be testing out the nearest "authorized Sharp servicer." Thanks Sharp. BTW, lest you think I used cheap media think again. This is the same Fuji DVC DVM60 tape that Amazon sells as an accessory.
Rating:
Summary: CHANGED MY MIND
Review: Below is what I first said about the camera after owning it for a couple of days. I've changed my rating from 3 stars to 1 star now because this camera is just plain JUNK! Nothing has broken on it, but the more I use it the more I realize how BAD the picture quality is. I compared it to an old VHS camcorder I had and I found the older camcorder was better. Why would anybody want to buy a digital camcorder if it's not recording at a level above any of the cheaper type models out there. I'm hoping to sell it to some unfortunate soul via the classifieds. Don't be suckered into the purchase of one...TRUST ME! First let me say, for the money I guess it's not bad. But having owned a VHS then an 8mm I was expecting more by buying a digital.
To be perfectly honest, I think my VHS image quality was better. In reading other reviews, it could be due to the image stablization feature which keeps the shot steady. Next time I will try to film without the feature and see if the quality is better.
Everybody who complains about the features being hard to control is not joking. If you are filming, the last thing you want to do is fumble through menus to access the features which is what you have to do. In other words, you probably won't be using the features too much unless you pre-set up your filming.
It's not as bulky as some people say. Yes, it's not the tiniest thing in the world but it is perfectly small enough. In finishing I would say this, if you are expecting GREAT video quality you might want to look at spending some extra money on a higher rated camera. For the money, you can't beat what you are getting (Video Camera and digi cam in one). Just don't expect alot when you receive this camera.
Rating:
Summary: Picture quality (is bad)
Review: I think the picture quality (is bad), The device actually stoped working after 30 minutes of use. when having fast movment on LP mode you can see digital artifacts. BAD ! Also unlike the 450 model this doesnt have IR flood light for night vision...
Rating: 
Summary: Very pleased for small cheese
Review: Don't know how long Amazon will offer this camera at this price but I can tell you that it's worth it, hands down. Great features, ease of use, high lens quality at about [current price](with rebate) than comparable models. I bought a Panasonic PV-DV101 from another retailer and, while I liked it also, it was defective and I had to return it. When I found this camcorder, I was glad I had gotten a bum model! I haven't seen it in other reviews so I feel I should point out that this model also supports analog-in, so you can record from other sources onto DV. For all the other neat features, check the other reviews. Shop around and do your homework. Even at the standard retail price (sans rebate) this camera is a solid deal. With the rebate, it's almost too good to be true. I'm a happy camper.
Rating: 
Summary: you get what you paid for
Review: This camcorder has lots of neat features for its low price. The picture is neat. Although I found that the power button and the menu is hard to operate. Besides that, I think it's a decent camcorder.
Rating:
Summary: Not High End but kick serious butt!!
Review: I bought this camera after my Sony Hi-8 died after more than 8 years of abuse.
There are some limitations in the way the camera is to be operated, but besides that it's a great piece of gear (for ($)).
Unlike more expensive Sony's or Canon's, this camera does NOT have a button for every function, it uses a menu to scroll through the hanfull of features and altough quite slow at first, even my girlfriend can use special efx (sorry laddies.
Picture quality is not as good as a progresive scan CCD found in expensive Sony and Canons but quite acceptable for the price. Low ligh operation has a lot of grain but again for ($) it ok. Sound is excellent, being an audio engeneeir by profesion, the tape transport is heard but is non obstrusive when the material is standard stuff.
Things like variable exposure and digital I/O make the camera very versatile, but dont expect much with the digital camera function, it's nothing great, or the image stabilization which takes away definition by big chunks (unlike some Canon lenses that are sumerged in a special oil, this stabilization is digital and tracks static points of the picture to anchor the image... the result can be a more stable picture with loss of definition).
The mail rebate and vivitar kit is a sweet deal (it's not outta this world but sweet)
No one seems to mention it, but the lenses are CANON
Two co workers also bought this camera
Rating:
Summary: Great First Time Camera
Review: If you never owned a camcorder before and you don't have a lot of money to spend, then I highly recommend this camera. It took me about a day of trial and error to learn all the features. First off the digital stills that the camera takes is not that bad. I bought a 32 meg SmartMedia card, and on the best resolution setting, I can get around 200+ pictures on the card. The pictures at the best setting can range from 90-120K. The clarity isn't perfect, but if you keep a steady hand and use good lighting the pictures are tolerable. As for the video: The picture looks just fine too me. The 16x by 9x letterbox is nice if you own or plan to buy a widescreen television soon. The sound is superb. I was very impressed with the sound from the camera. You can't beat this price. Don't let the other reviews fool you. This is a great first camcorder. NOTE: This camera has S-Video output, but no cable is included. It also has the Cat Eyes feature. I don't know if I would ever use it.
Rating:
Summary: Completely dissapointed
Review: Bought the camera three weeks ago. Managed to record two tapes and on the third one I got stuck.
Horizontal streaks started to appear, at times the image was not visible at all, voice got distorted and so on.
Took the camera to authorised Sharp cervice center but was told that Sharp doesn't authorise them to make this type of repair and that the camera should be factory serviced.
The tech didn't miss to offer me an estimate though. Like I was going to pay for a repair of a three week old camera .. funny :)
Later I tried to connect with Sharp tech support on three ocasions.. with no luck.. automated voice was telling me that the wait times are very long and I should call later :)
My last option was to write an e-mail..
It is not easy to express your frustration in an e-mail but anyway I did my best..
This is the reason I also write here.
I usually don't write reviews or whatever.. but this time it was too much..
So.. stay away from this camera.. remember the saying - "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE"
Rating:
Summary: Works Great with iMovie!
Review: Pretty cool! This camera comes with everything you need EXCEPT a Mini DV tape and a Firewire cable. So be sure to order those too! :) I had the thing up & running in no time-- very easy to figure out! (the 'menu' system was a little tricky at first, but i soon got the hang of it) The picture quality is pretty good, although not the greatest in low light. I also had better luck when i switched the "digital image stabilization" to OFF. It was amazingly easy to connect to my Mac, and I didn't even need to install any drivers or anything. (my computer came with iMovie pre-installed.) Not Bad for the CHEAPEST Digital Camcorder available!
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