Just ordered the sony HDR-CX550V

[homedad]

Is is going to be as good as I'm hoping in low light levels????

[paulsboy]

I just picked up a HDR-CX350 about a month ago, and I love it. The low-light performance is not as good as the one you're getting, but I am very happy with the way mine performs. The daytime video picture is stunning. I can't wait to use it at the parks when we go in April. From what I've read doing research, you should have no problems whatsoever with your 550. I would've bought that one, but I stretched the budget as it was to get the 350.

[homedad]

it is a splurge but I miss the low level light capabilities of Sony

[manning]

How does the Panasonic HDC-TM700 High Definition Camcorder compare?

[paulsboy]

I signed up over at Vimeo.com, it is a site dedicated to user submitted videos. You can search for videos shot by camera model. I narrowed down my list of possible cameras by features and price, then I went to Vimeo and downloaded a bunch of videos from those cameras to compare to each other. You can download raw video files from the cameras, instead of looking at a compressed youtube videos. The users do all kinds of low-light tests, and upload the results. It really helped me decide on my Sony HDR-CX350v. Check it out.

[paulsboy]

One thing about that Panasonic, it uses a funky video codec for some of its shooting modes. That was one thing that scared me away from the Panasonics, the unusual video codec. From what I read, you have to use special software when editing those files. Just an FYI, I would look into that if you are going to do a bunch of video editing.

[manning]

I signed up over at Vimeo.com, it is a site dedicated to user submitted videos. You can search for videos shot by camera model. I narrowed down my list of possible cameras by features and price, then I went to Vimeo and downloaded a bunch of videos from those cameras to compare to each other. You can download raw video files from the cameras, instead of looking at a compressed youtube videos. The users do all kinds of low-light tests, and upload the results. It really helped me decide on my Sony HDR-CX350v. Check it out.

Do you have to sign up to see everything or can you just browse?

[paulsboy]

You can just browse, but I think you have to sign up to download the raw files. Its free though, just a simple registration, I've never received any spam from them.