Excellent choice for everyday use!

I searched around for the lowest priced digital camcorder and found this one first. It looked attractive, but I shopped around for others. While others had good prices, or some decent features or good reviews, I kept coming back to this Sharp unit. After purchasing it, I'm really glad I did!

First of all, digital beats analog in my book every time. It's higher resolution (which equates to higher quality to me, but not everyone will agree with that). It's digital, so it can easily be edited/enhanced. And because it's digital, it can be archived with little to no loss of quality. That means Junior's grandkids can watch him as a baby 75 years from now (provided you transfer the digital files to whatever current media we will be using in 75 years).

In reading the multitude of camcorder reviews out there, you can begin to think that you either need to spend $1000+ or you can get by with an analog camcorder for $200. However, for under $400, you get all the benefits of digital, better resolution/quality than analog, and lots of good features with the Sharp VL-NZ105U. In addition to the standard digital features (transfer to your computer via Firewire), there are some additional features. It's one of the only lower priced models I found that has a standard A/V input using RCA plugs (it does NOT have S-Video in, though). This means you can also digitize your old analog tapes by connecting your VCR to the Sharp Viewcam and either recording them on MiniDV tapes, or passing it through to your computer for digitizing. This takes the place of a video capture card for you computer.

As for capturing and editing the video, you'll need to buy a Firewire (IEEE 1394) card for your computer. These cards can be found for around $25-30. You CAN pay more, but there's no difference in them. I have a new computer using Windows XP, and installing the card was no problem. Also, the first time I connected the Sharp to my computer, the computer recognized it immediately and started up the video editing software (it came with the card, or you can use the Movie Maker software free from Microsoft). I was able to control the camera from my computer, so I could edit the video directly on the camera, or I could capture (download) the video into my computer for more extensive editing. It worked exactly as described, first time.

Using the camera is fine. It's a small camcorder (about the size of a large digital camera), which is both good and bad. Good in that it's easy to take everywhere. Bad in that there's not a grip or good place to really grab it. Once you're used to it, it's not bad. The LCD is large and easy to see. I haven't tried it in bright sunlight, though, so that could be an issue. There isn't a viewfinder.

The Sharp will take still photos a couple of ways. You can grab frames off of the video, or you can use the STILL photo button and take a 640X480 picture to an SD/MMC memory card. Depending on the compression, you can store between 50-120 pictures on the included 8 mb card. Quality is okay for emails or web posting, but not nearly as good as any cheap digital camera. Still, it can come in handy I suppose. (Don't buy this for the stills, buy it for the video.)

The remote is handy. You can rotate the display so that you can see yourself in the viewfinder and use the remote to control taping or playback. Fairly standard, but still a handy feature.

If you're an expert, I suppose you could want more from this camera. For an everyday Joe like me, it more than meets my needs, and it's fun to boot. I don't think you'll find a better value out there! (The $100 rebate is off of the $384 I paid. My final price is $284, but it's still recommended at $384 after the rebate expires.) Recommended!