Just wanted to pass along this review I found. I own this
cam. It does offer bang for the buck. It doesn't feel
overly cheap. For it's price, it feels pretty solid. And for
the price, it offers more manual control than most, including
shutter and aperture.
Best thing about it is that you can shoot indoors with it--
it has above-average low-light capability. Pretty easy to
use. Less "menu controled" than some. Mono mic
seems to be omni and is of middling sensitivity. Mic
does seem quite sensitive to wind gust. Auto
focus is quite good, even in low light situations -- quick
to catch on and not inclined to hunt. On-cam light is bright
and functional -- and glarring. For my use, I wish it had
a shoe and external mic port.
For someone wanting to get into miniDV without spending
a lot, and who would like a cam you can use indoors
and still get a good picture, have a look at this one.
At around $350, this is about the least expensive entry to miniDV currently available.
One thing I noticed in the review was a mention of the iLink/1394 not being suitable for NLE capture. Anyone
have any knowledge of this issue? Can you capture to
your NLE through 1394 with this cam? Alex?

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/panasonic-pv-dv53-camcorder-review.htm

"One thing I noticed in the review was a mention of the iLink/1394 not being suitable for NLE capture. Anyone
have any knowledge of this issue?"

Hmm, I didn't see that anywhere in the review...maybe they edited it out because it was a mistake? I have the DV53 and use it pretty much solely as a NLE firewire capture device. I've never had any problems importing footage either shot natively by it or by my DVX100. I use it almost daily for capture and it's usually on 24/7 plugged in via firewire, have had it for over 3 months now and never a problem. I also use it to monitor to TV from my NLE.

For ~$350 at Walmart, and under $300 on the net, you can't get better bang for the buck on the lower end of DV cameras.

Sean,
The reference to iLink is still there -- under "The Left Side".
I must've misunderstood what they were saying.
So you figure the 53 would be just as good
for capture as your DVX? Even though the on-board
mic is mono, it will output stereo through 1394, correct?
And wouldn't you say the DV53 is better in low light than most
single chippers?

Yeah, the DV53 is just as good for capture as the DVX100. The mono mic doesn't come into play when reading another camera's DV recorded from tape. So it gets the same picture/sound and quality as if it was captured from the DVX100. The only thing though, the lifetime on the DV53's heads probably isn't as high as the DVX100's but I'd much rather use the DV53 as kind of a throw away deck than to add wear and tear to my DVX100. Plus, even if the heads on the 53 go poof then I can still use it as a digital to analog converter for previewing NLE stuff.

In regards to low light, I'm used to 3 chippers so to me the low light is kinda weak. I do have another lower end Sony D8 camera to compare it to and the DV53's low light is definitely better than the Sony. The great thing about the DV53 though is that you can lower the gain down to zero in low light conditions and remove the noise and tweak the white balance, etc.

I'm gonna be getting a Sony D8 TRV350 in a couple days.
I'll see how they compare. The 53 is probably better
in low light seeing as the D8 only has a 1/6" chip, I believe.
The main reason I'm getting the D8 is my Hi8 Sony TR101 went out and I need to capture some of the 101's footage.