They are both great cams. To be picky I like DVX100A because of the control, you can do more changes on the fly. I basically suggest this way: If you are a beginner and want to have a pro cam that is more of a point and shoot camera, and if some times ever, for some reason the picture does not meet your needs have an ability to fix it. Than PD-170 is your best choice. If you are a person that wants all the flexibility possible, and to have an ability to change most things on the fly with high precision, and lots of presets to help out, than DVX100A is the best choice. I am a person that usually gets stuck shooting in had settings. Like my church for instance. Well I need to use manual exposure (IRIS), most of the time manual Focus because of so many things on stage, and the worst yet, there are different light temperatures in the building, like florescent, halogen, regular light bulbs, and outside light all of them are in different areas of the building. I have shot with both cams, and I love them both, but these are the things that I have honestly found out. Most of the time I am stuck in these situations weather it is my church, someone’s house, and many other places. And being in the area like that requires an ability to change settings quick with out stopping the camera. Well I found out that PD is more dependant on the back-light spot-lighte and AE shift buttons, where as DVX you can do that all with one IRIS wheal (even though the DVX has those buttons) and when you use the IRIS you get this nice smooth changes (No steps visible) so the viewer does not even know that you are changing the aperture. Also you don’t need to push buttons or hit the switches to activate certain functions – Like the IRIS and Manual focus, you just turn it and it is fixed. I love the view finder, that can change from color to B&W, and LOTS of costume presets options which can be rescued by auto shoot button located where Photo button on the PD. For instance if you are shooting on a certain pre-set settings, you can hit that button and the cam will switch to full auto, But you can subtract settings for instance you don’t want White balance to go auto, you can program it not to switch when you press that button. I can go on and on about the DVX, but basically it is a great cam for those that love to have the video at the top settings, and love manual control. PD – has also lots of great features like photo option, titling, effects, great low light, and the controls are pretty well organized on the cam and easy to fix them on the fly only when your full concentration is on the object you are trying to catch the last thing you need is to find the button to activate that setting to manual, and fix it. I know many people may argue with my review, but that is honestly what I found out from my filming experience, so I tend to stay with DVX100A a little more than the PD-170 even though I like the look of the Sony DSR-PD170 more. Thanks for reading!