2 quick questions: First, for inside day shooting, just how bad or not is the 1/6 ccd Pv-dv953. with or without a video light? Second, I was told that the short depth of field is sacrificed with the 1/6 ccd. True? if so, how bad compared to a 1/4 or 1/3 ccd? thanx.

This depends on how dim your lights are indoors. With a couple of 60 or 100 watt bulbs lit, the PV-DV953 will perform just fine. For shallow DOF: iris open and use zoom in. Big CCDs will get you less DOF.

I think it is pretty bad indoors. The noise in the shadows is really distracting to me.

Depth of field is a problem too. I can't compare it with other camcorders, but I will say it's nothing like 35mm!

the depth of field is sacrificed quite a bit, but if you use your zoom wisely you can acheive a nice shallow dof.