Just purchased a dvx100b, normally I use a sony pd170. I was out turkey hunting this morning and was amazed how bad the low light on this camera was, compared to the pd170. Any thoughts on what I can do to get a better low light picture with the 100b?

Screen caps are always a great way to let us see what your issue is.

The PD170 is known to have excellent low light performance, the best of all the 1/3" chip prosumer cameras, so of course the DVX100 performs worse in low light (but not too bad either for a 1/3")

"The PD170 is known to have excellent low light performance,"

Why though?? Well its because of the low resolution (ie larger pixels per ccd cubic inch... THATS why..
If you want low res good low loght performance your more than welcome to jump ship.. but hold off until i finish.. ))

the best of all the 1/3" chip prosumer cameras,

((I persoanlly disagree with this, but anyway.. ))

so of course the DVX100 performs worse in low light (but not too bad either for a 1/3")

((again, i disagree...
in fact its on par with the PD unit if set correctly..

the gamma config within the DVX allows fora variety of luminance settings.. depending on which one you choose, low light performance of the DVX can be rather spiffy, or downright crap.
The thing to note is that side by side, when BOTH cameras are set correctly, low light performance is ight on idential, save for half a stop or so..
thign with teh DVX though, is that you can also tweak it for a variety of environmnets using the scene files.
master pedestal, gamma, and saturation will all play a part in the way you percieve the image, and the luminance therein

The PD170 is known to have excellent low light performance, the best of all the 1/3" chip prosumer cameras,

I disagree with that, the vx2100 is on par in low light too.

You mean one of best.

My friend just called me crazy as i sold my fx1 and bought a dvx102b recently.
Used it on 2 weddings recently. i am just impressed. At 0 gain level. The camera is capturing footages about 1stop brighter than what my eyes see. However realised when i switch to progressive, the images looks darker.

I own a dvx100b and a vx2100 and I have both of them with me during weddings, I have done some comparison tests between them at a wedding party with only just candlelight on the tables and no extra lightsource on the camera and there is a big difference in very dark situations, even if you tweak the pana's settings to get the most out of it. Filming in progressive mode is then totally out of the question because you hardly see anything in such a situation.
The Vx2100, which has the same lens as the pd170 outperformes the dvx by a mile on that part. But on the other hand the DVX is a better camera on almost every other part. (Almost, not counting it's crap internal mic in)

We just did a test with those two cams and the 170/2100 series and they were brighter with less grain than DVX.

so what setting should i mess with to get the best low light picture with a dvx100b?