The VX2000's LCD is absolutely amazing. It's the first on-camera monitor that is so sharp that we felt secure about being able to attain critical focus, even at arm's length. However, this incredibly sharp picture has a downside... the VX2000 is more prone to aliasing along lines and edges than the XM1. Some may actually find the crisp and, well, digital look of the VX2000 a bit annoying under certain conditions. (Note: You can dial down the sharpness in a menu setting.)
Both the XM1 and the VX2000 can shoot in 16:9 (or letterbox). However, the VX2000 actually displays the 16:9 image in a letterboxed format on the camera's LCD. The XM1 squeezes the 16:9 image and fills the entire LCD, which makes it difficult to compose a letterboxed shot.
Both the XM1 and the VX2000 can shoot in progressive mode; however, the XM1 can shoot a full 30 frames per second in progressive mode while the VX2000 shoots only about 15. Progressive mode is important for shooting video destined for the Web and for filmmakers who want their projects to look as though they were shot on film. The VX2000's progressive mode is jumpy. Sony provides this only as a convenience to grab stills from motion. To be honest, we don't think that Sony's progressive scan quality, even in stills, is an improvement over Canon's.
The XM1 has many compelling features, but the VX2000 has even more. The VX2000 has time lapse/stop-motion recording and an IEEE-1394 pass-through feature that lets you digitize analog video to a 1394-enabled computer without having to record to a miniDV tape first; and it lets you take digital stills with your camera and save them to a Memory Stick (Sony includes a USB Memory Stick reader in the box).
Conclusion:
The VX2000 has a lot of things going for it. It has an incredibly sharp picture and a manual zoom, and it lets you save your still images to a Memory Stick and convert your analog video to digital signal on the fly. The camera's only downsides are that its manual audio capabilities are seriously flawed and that it records only 15 frames per second in progressive mode. If picture quality is more important than manual audio or progressive scan, then you'll want the VX2000 over the XM1.
Sony VX2000
Company:Sony Australia
Ph:1800 017 669
Price:$6,999
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