Rating: 
Summary: Cheap Camcorder - Expensive Performance!
Review: Terrible, product tanked after 3 months! Wont playback! very pixelated and distorted if it does, otherwise blue screen. You get what you pay for here!Sharp is of no help, send to a service center for nothing! Wont record or playback!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Camera
Review: This is a great digital camcorder. I took it to the Grand Canyon. The camcorder was able to record in freezing conditions with no problems. The battery lasted approximately one hour. I used the digital camera mode and I was able to take plenty of pictures, with the help of the 26X zoom lens. Overall, I'd say this is a great buy! Also, Amazon is the only store that I trust when I make important or general purchases on the internet. So lets keep buying and supporting this great online store! OR else we are going to have to buy from many not-so-reputable stores.
Rating: 
Summary: Good movies, poor stills
Review: The movie output is very good, camera is easy to use, expecially with the firewire. The infared is exceptional, pictures in total darkness are great at a distance of less than 10'. However, the QUALITY of the still pictures is less than an old 480x640 Sony Mavica 71. Was very dissappointed with the stills.
Rating:
Summary: Using iMovie with the Sharp VL-WD450U
Review: The Sharp VL-WD450U has a firewire port, but you need to go to the computer store to get the cable. I have a Mac with the iMovie editing software. Apple doesn't list the Sharp camera as one that is known to be compatible with the iMovie software. I plugged it in and it works fine.
Also, the software that comes with the camera is PC Windows oriented, so I couldn't use it. But reading the still images onto your hard drive via a serial port is not a great idea anyway. I went down to the computer store and bought a nice little USB device that plugs into the keyboard USB port ... You insert the 8MB SmartMedia card into it and it acts like a floppy drive. Each image is a .jpg file. Just click on the image and it pops up on the screen.
The camera is working fine so far. The 27X zoom is great. (Use a tripod) The only problem is finding a local source to buy a backup lithium battery. They don't sell them at the drug store or Wal-mart.
Rating:
Summary: Expensive Features for a Budget Camcorder!
Review: If you are looking for a camera/digital camcorder that is in the ... range, this may very well be the camera for you ...In deciding which camera to buy, I initially shopped the Sony and Canon offerings but was dismayed by how quickly the price goes up when you start to tack on the features. That's when I saw the Sharp VL-WD450U. What a great price for the features that you get: Its 26X optical zoom is much more powerful than that of most MiniDV camcorders, and its low-light performance is terrific! The LCD panel flips around so that your subjects can see how they look on camera, and the color LCD eyepiece viewfinder automatically switches on so that you can catch the action, too. The Gamma/Brighter adjustment button, which can fine-tune the exposure to brighten skin tones when they appear dark without changing the overall exposure level, is really a cool feature.
Plus the detachable microphone (it slides into a little slot on top; but you don't always need to use it because the camcorder also has a standard built-in microphone under the lens) has a highly directional pickup pattern and is less affected by the motor noise generated within the camcorder. And you can zoom in on points and the mic will only pick up sounds from that point and filter out other sounds, which is really neat! Like Sony's popular Nightshot feature, this camcorder sports Super Cat's Eye, which lets you shoot video in complete darkness. But the normal shooting mode has excellent low-light performance too. Of course the camera allows you to take stills onto an 8mb memory card and download in to your computer. It also comes with the IEEE Link for downloads of video at over 400mbs! The camera comes with RCA-type jacks for video and audio, an SVideo Input/Output. But what really makes the camera is its Canon Lens (which in my opinion makes or breaks a Camcorder). The Image quality is as good as the ... Sony and Canon Camcorders (don't let the 460,000 resolution fool you, it looks MUCH sharper than that). So if you are not a professional and are just looking for a great deal on a Camcorder to take production quality home movies then this is probably as good as they come.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy to Use
Review: The camcorder is constructed well and is very easy to use. Your moveies can download to your computer using Firewire. This process is fast and easy. However, don't bother opening the software bundled with the camcorder, it is absolutely useless. Overall a great bang for the buck!
Rating:
Summary: excellent choice for a bugdet digital camcorder
Review: Pros: Excellent optical zoom,good features like manual focus, exposure,etc. Zero flux recording. Strong zoom microphone. Cons: Lower pixels as compared to other camcorder of the same range.Hence the picture quality is not very good.Serial connection to PC instead of widely used USB. ....
Rating:
Summary: Very Impressed !
Review: I had the opportunity to use this camera to shoot a wedding ceremony. Never having used a camcorder before, I was hesitant to agree to record such an important event and moreso on a new untested camcorder.
Although the instruction manual was a bit confusing at first, once I got the basic functions down the rest fell into place. The camera is lightweight enough so arm fatigue isn't an issue, yet sturdy enough to hold up to jarring when mounted on a tripod. The auto-focus worked quickly during zoom in/out with no distortion at all when zooming in. All controls are well placed, each with a different feel so the user can concentrate on the subject instead of searching around for the right button.
I found the display screen to be a little small and in certain lighting positions difficult to see. On the plus side, the screen flips so the user may be in the recording and still have control over it. Additionally, there is a very small remote control which will work up to 16 feet from the camera which removes the need to constantly be behind the lens. This was probably the best feature of this camcorder.
The rechargeable battery which came with the camcorder kept it's charge for only 90 minutes or so and took at least that long to fully recharge. Although there is an adapter to run the camera from an electrical outlet, I would definitely suggest purchasing the extended life battery which is an optional purchase.
With many advanced features which I didn't go into in writing this review, the Sharp Digital Camcorder is an excellent buy for the beginner or advanced user.
Rating: 
Summary: Good For A While...
Review: I was extremely pleased with this camera when I first got it. It was a great bargain and I got a rebate, too! The features on it were amazing for the price and the video was quality was every bit as good as I expected, if not better. Then, after about a year of being exceedingly pleased with my purchase, my favorite toy started eating tapes. I get the famous EJECT CASSETTE message nearly every time I attempt to rewind now. About half of those times, the machine ends up messing up a part of the tape by getting it stuck in the mechanism. Then I have to carefully extract it myself and rewind manually. Even doing this causes some wear and tear on the tapes now because they just weren't made for winding and unwinding by hand and they sometimes end up getting stretched out a little too far in the process. If you've got the expendable cash and just need a full-featured camera to last you a little while, go for a Sharp. If you need something durable and want some actual bang for your buck, pay more for another brand. I'm waiting for the days when camcorders record onto hard drives... In the meantime, my next camcorder purchase for personal use will likely be a DVD-RAM model. Forget about tapes. But most of all, forget about Sharp.
Rating:
Summary: Tape disaster- Sharp has worst customer service
Review: This camera has the best lens you can get for the price. I bought it for a six month trip through the South Pacific and I kept finding new features the more I used it. It works just as well as any higher priced brand name model. It takes pictures that look nice on a computer screen, but it doesn't have the high resolution that a still digital camera does. I have no regrets buying this product!
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