I thought I did my homework when I bought the dvd505 from Amazon.com. The first thing I thought when I saw the first video clip I shot was "man I thought it would be chearer than this". I read all the "professional reviews" and thought that "pros" would have very high expectations and since the vast majority of users liked it, so bought it.

So here's the problem. My ten year old Pansonic vhs-c has equal or better sharpness than this. Especially indoors with dimmish lighting. I live in Seattle where it's cloudy but I've got all the windows open, and every light in the house on.
Outdoors the image quality is ok but indoors it's just grainy, like your looking at a digital still that's been blown up to 200%.

Are my expectations too high? It's got to be faulty I think.
I haven't yet found anyone on the internet that had a good experience with Sony support. I think if I have to send it in to have it repaired, ther's a good chance I won't have it for Christmas. Do I send it back to Amazon and get another one? Will it be the same as this one?
Someone please share their opinion with me on whether this camera is acting normal. And on sending a brand new camera in for service.
Thank You!

Are you viewing this on your tv that shows its bad or on your computer? If your close to a store that has this model, go their and see if they will let you test the recording capabilities (don't tell them you already own one). If they do, see if the recording looks the same. I don't own this model but researching this one for my daughter. From other posts I have read, this one seems to produce good video. I would suggest you look at all your settings too.
Randy

Check that your record mode is set to HQ. It is set to SP by default. No digital consumer camcorder performs very well in low light, but the 505 is better than most according to reviews. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, just the settings may not be right. Check your manual.

Regards, Mike

Thanks for the feedback guys, but after messing around for a few hours, I can't get descent enough quality even in good light to warrant keeping this camera. Since I seem to be the only one who has this issue, I've concluded that mine must be "defective". I'm gonna go compare it to one at a nearby store to verify.
But I can't imagine that anyone would be happy with the performance that I'm getting and I haven't even mentioned the disc motor noise that comes through on the recording. Everyone seems to have this issue. I could actually live with that.
See my expectations aren't that high. I'll post back in case anyone cares how this turns out.