January 2000: Here's another page in the midst of a complete re-work. New additions are being prepared as more camcorder-specific web pages and sites are appearing on the net. For now, I've fixed the links of the following three "heavy hitters" to reflect their correct re-locations.
Somebody wrote to me awhile back and said, "nice website, how about one for the Optura." Well, I'm content just trying to keep up with the XL1, but there are some other great camcorder websites out there... but not enough, in my opinion. Here are a few of them.
The VX-1000 Resource Group Scott Bethel, near Portland, Oregon created this website which has been badly needed for quite some time. In addition to an online discussion forum, his site boasts a comprehensive list of links to other VX-1000 pages across the internet. The location is http://abruptedge.virtualave.net/.
Using the TRV-900 John Beale, from the San Francisco Bay area, has a couple of pages about the Sony TRV-900. Along with sample images taken with its print-to-floppy feature, there is a nice FAQ as well. John's pages are at http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/index.html.
The AG-EZ30 Unofficial Page Enrique Avalle of Montevideo, Uraguay, has done a great job in putting together an information center for the Panasonic AG-EZ30 camcorder. Like all websites, Enrique's is constantly "under construction," but he is off to a very good start. It's found at http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/3749/pananews.html.
The Watchdog notes: this website apparantly is no longer available. If anybody knows Lee Slone's whereabouts, please tell him I'd be glad to host his old pages. We need this site back online! VL Land (Canon L1/L2) Lee Slone, at the ripe old age of 17, has done an impressive job with this website devoted to Canon's VL series of Hi-8 camcorders. In the near future, he hopes to add more material through your contributions. It looks great right now, go check it out at http://www.nanospace.com/~lee/vl/index.html.
I sure would like to see other non-commercial websites like these, especially for the Sony DSR-200 and 300, the Panasonic AG-EZ1 and AJ-D200/210, and the Canon Optura as well. If you know of any such material on the web (non-DV cameras included), please send me the links!