I have to leave for a two week vacation, but I was able to do a quick, very basic test of the PD-100 vs the VX-1000. I set up a test display similar to one used in the November DV magazine to test a group of digital cameras. The only manual function I used was focus, otherwise the settings were performed by the cameras and I recorded to the same mini DVCAM tape.(posted 9259 days ago)Overall I found the camera's picture to be almost identical. The PD- 100 seemed sharper to my eye with slightly better color, while the VX- 1000 had a warmer, what I would call more professional look. However, the auto-white balance was obviously off on the VX-1000 and might account for the difference I was seeing. An engineer looked at both pictures and disagreed with me. He felt that the images were so close that he would simply buy the cheaper camcorder. That would be the PD-100, which I believe lists for $3000. American, though it would probably sell retail for around $2,500.
One thing I should mention from this early test. The PD-100 is so much easier to operate and I found myself loving that 3 1/2" flip out screen! It is a small, very light camcorder but I think I'll get use to that soon enough.
Of course, I'll do a more thorough test to really see what this camera can do, but I thought you might find my first impressions of interest.