Thanks Randy.
I'm not professional but occasionaly I do weddings and some other occasional events in the local ethnic club. Both require camera with good low light performance. I would like to maintain the high quality of my work. Thanks again,
michal

You can make orange sodium vapor street lighting look like a movie set. I've shot with 40 watt light bulbs mixed with candle light. The camera sees slightly better than we do. Since I do music videos I don't need onboard sound. Manual exposure lets you see if you're below the decent quality threshold.

Michal,

I understand that the 2100 is essentially a slight evolution over the VX2000 which I have used for a couple of years now. The low light performance is excellent.

The weakest points of the camera are the on board sound capability (which can work pretty well if a hot mic is used), and the lack of a 30 fps progressive mode.

The PD170 adds balanced audio inputs, the ability to control sound levels independently for L and R channels, and the ability to manually control gain, aperature and shutter speed simultaneously. On the VX2000 you pick two of the three manual controls.

Additionally, the 170 can record in DVCAM mode, and has SMPTE time code, if those two items make a difference to you

This camers is the best purchase I ever mede, next to the 1 Gig ram. :)Funny, I bought it and I was hired to do a batmitzvah that weekend. The party footage was great and flawless (my shooting skills lack a bit though) What do you want to know about this camera?

If you've got the money and you're doing weddings and the like get the PD170 or maybe you can still get the 150, there's nothing in the 170 over the 150 that make it a must have.
Why spend the extra, well the audio circuits are equally poor BUT getting balanced audio in is a HUGE plus. Sure you can get an adaptor to do the same thing, right? WRONG!
On the VX2100 with a balanced adaptor you have ALL your audio going through 1 x 3.5mm minipin connector and some very fine wire. On the 170 you can have say an external wireless mic in one channel and the on camera mic in the other. This may save your career, believe me, I've tried to help a client who had just this happen recently and they're not alone.
Another minor plus, the VX2100 is handled by Sony consummer, the PD170 is from Sony pro division, this may or may not mean a lot depending where you live but around here it can make quite s difference when it comes to service.

Thanks a lot for input. Audio is not a big deal as I use my laptop and Motu ( 8 inputs audio unit ) for recording audio (hey, lots of fun with later editing!) What I'm after is rather good low light performer. For weddings I'm thinking of buying some micro remote mics (does anyone use it? what brand? where to buy?)and just record sound again on laptop. I mainly use cameras audio to sync shots from other cameras so quality of camera's audio is not the big deal.
BTW:
what is the best metod to record audience? I did use separate mick but it picked up lots of the music as well....just wander how is it done professionaly?

Thanks again,
Michal

If you're not worried about the audio side the there's nothing on the video side between the 170 and the 2100 apart from being able to record in DVCAM and that's not a big plus if you use good tapes.
For wireless mics we hire Sennheisers pretty well exclusively, yes they COST but apart from the lead to the mic they LAST. Just remember, like tape, batteries are cheap. Normal practice is to put one on the groom, seems to pickup bride and celebrant OK, certainly better than on-camera mic.
As for audience sound, TV studios I've been in have a few directional mics aimed at the audience as fixtures from the grid.
Here's my two bobs worth on the low light stuff. It's great to have it, don't get me wrong, but I think you do much better if you can have just a little more light than the minimum the camera needs before you hit the noise floor. A low power on-camera light can make a big difference, we have these rather odd units made in the UK that use a fluro tube. Not a huge amount of light, just enough for infill without blinding anyone. Run for a few hours off 10x AA batteries. Not adequate for say ENG where they could be your only light but in dark reception areas they seem to do great. I think also soon you'll see some LED light sources which should be good for this kind of thing, like fluros, no heat.

thanks again.
actually I did come across some cheap LED lights on ebay, this is really good idea. The only problem might be the color of the light...I got one which I use for my fishing trips, but this one has realy ugly bluish spectrum.
Just out of curiosity, did anyone try the infra red light for filming?

I will try to place more audience mics in different spots next time.
Seems like DCR-VX2100 will be good choice for my needs.
Michal

IR works very well for video, Panasonic are pushing it on their new camera and just about every consummer camera has some form of IR light in it.
The white LEDs like in the torches are no good for video in general, much better stuff starting to appear now. Actually what these new LEDs are is a UV LED that excites phospors, much the same as a fluro.