Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Almost Everything You Could Want
The quality of the 26x zoom is incredible, and even the lower powers of digital zoom that this camera has are incredible. Imagine being able to clearly read 3pt type from 15 feet away on the viewfinder. And that's just the beginning.Unpacking the box, I found out that I was glad that I'd purchased a USB smartmedia reader. The only cables supplied were the standard dubbing cables and a serial transfer cable. Standard serial transfer being slow as it is was not an option. That cable is now stashed collecting dust. The camera was easy to set up and get running right away. I popped the 8mb smartmedia card in its slot, the battery in it's little hideout, and a new blank tape in the tape compartment. The single hardest thing was figuring out how to attach the lens cap to the hand strap. Velcro is your friend (the hand strap pad velcroes shut over the strap adjustment, by undoing the strap pad, you slip the cap cord onto the strap. A very neat, if unintuitive, design) Still pictures: 640x480 is limiting, but I mostly use this for web work and don't like to publish anything much larger than this. I would like to have some extra area though to make sure I get everything and crop down. Quality is superb in good direct lighting, decent in low light or indirect light. Video Capture: Surprisingly clear. The camera, as with all such devices, makes a good webcam if you have the right interface hardware. I use a WinTV card for vid capture and discovered that the 450 will 'follow' action around if you leave it still on the tripod. Good for those people with a cam setup that move around a lot. It will automatically pan within its scan area just a few degrees to each side, but enough, usually, if set up correctly. VCR Mode: A neat feature that I was totally unaware that the machine had until I got it home. If you plug the 'output' ports in so that they're receiving information instead of sending it, you can record on the camera like a VCR. All in all: I'd recommend this little cam. My only complaint was being limited to 640x480 on still pictures. Cabling was standard and not unexpected. Optics and zoom are exceptional, 26x optical zoom is a big plus. IR and zero-light features are great. Still pictures, though limited in size, can fit 500-1500 depending on quality on a 64mb SM card. 4 1/2 stars
Rating:  - Beware of the red X
This camera is such a shame. It's one of the few (if not the only) cameras with 3 separate RCA jacks (for 1 video & 2 audio channels), not the ridiculous "mini-jack" most consumer mini-DV cameras come with. Lots of manual controls. Bargain price.What is the shame? It eats tapes. The machine randomly stops, then displays a red X with the words "eject cassette." Beware if you don't heed the warning. I didn't, and extracted mini-DV spaghetti from my camera. I rewound the tape manually, but now a spot is permanently marked on the tape. Every time I play that tape, the machine remembers to tell me to "eject cassette" at the same point on that cassette every time it plays. I tested with a new tape, different brands, etc., and sure enough, sooner or later, this problem re-surfaced on each test tape. If you got a rebate with your camera, this is where it's going. Unless you like to stop your tapes at random intervals and manually fast forward a few seconds of tape; or you plan to take advantage of the warranty and send in the camera for repair right when you get it... then get a different camera. Remember, though: you're getting a lot of camera for the price. You'll still get a great camera for a great price, after you send it in for warranty work.
Rating:  - I own the VL-WD650U and it works great!
Maybe I got lucky, but I find it weird
that everybody is complaining about the VL-WD450U,I own the VL-WD650U, and it works perfectly,
of course it cost a little more(since the LCD screen is 3"!). I have only used Panasonic LD tapes, and havent had any problems. It's funny because the problem everybody is decribing sure sounds like dirty recording heads to me,
I had that problem with a JVC I used to own,
I was constantly having to clean the heads,
Then I realized that if I just removed the tape
when it wasn't in use, the heads didn't get dirty all the time,
with SHARP I haven't even had that problem
I can leave the tapes in the camcorder all the time. As far as quality is concerned,
I find it excellent, the only thing I don't like is the size, it's a little too big,
especially compared to the tiny JVC's,
on the other hand I've found it much more durable. The Feature are great, I love the 26X Zoom,
and the Zoom Mic, I've even recorded analogue video onto Digital,
Digital Zoom, all the other features work good, it has real RCA jacks, it's great! I have noticed the picture is a little too dark,
so I use the manual exposure to make the
picture brighter, other than that I have no complaints about it. The still pictures are about average for one of these things. The menu could be a little easier to use,
but I'm an expert at these things by now,
so it wasn't really that hard to figure out. I love mine!
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