Well, I had read all the reviews of this model on Amazon and based my purchasing decision partly on this information.  I expected picture quality from the 310 to be at least as good as my old PAL Sony 8mm.  However, after  2 weeks of using the 310 we had to conclude that it simply provides  inferior picture quality in most lighting situations.  Inferior in both  colour reproduction and in clarity, whatever the technical specs. say. For  example, I have a coat with a maroon sleeve but this appeared bright red  whatever exposure or program setting I used; same with the shop model we  checked with when returning the purchased unit to the store - it didn't  appear to be just a snafu with the particular unit we had purchased.  We  also compared the 310 picture with the supposedly inferior Panasonic 910  and both colour and clarity were actually better on the latter.  Why?  What is Sony playing at?  We were expecting twice the clarity  ("resolution") and 3 times the colour depth from this Digital 8  camera, as widely advertised.  What are they talking about?  When it comes  down  to it, its about picture quality, no matter what bells and whistles  the machine has.