When Panasonic released the DVX100 camera in November of 2002, they had no idea of the passion and fanaticism that would soon grow around their product.

The first 24p DV camera available to prosumers quickly became the talk of the online world by providing its owners with a visible means of producing footage at least visually equal to high-end film originated material. Frustrated by simply being a bystander in the existing online communities discussing his new favorite camera, Vancouver-based independent filmmaker Jarred Land decided he could do them one better. So in July of 2003, Jarred registered the domain DVXuser.com and opened an online discussion forum focused on DVX100 owners.

"Our first couple of days were pretty quiet, just me saying 'welcome' and a few people stopping by to lurk or say hi," Land recalls. But the calm didn't last long. Word traveled fast among other online communities that a new home had sprung up. Within a year, DVXuser.com had over 3,000 registered users and many of them were talking about subjects other than the DVX100."

We realized pretty early that we could be a lot more than just a site for DVX100 users if we added forums for other filmmaking subjects," Land noted. As a result, DVXuser.com is constantly in flux, with specialty forums like DIY camera rigs, post-production, footage links, etc. The site also recently added a special section for a new camera launching at NAB 2006 called Red, from the Oakley sunglasses company. Jarred laughed, "It's gotten to the point where I receive requests to open new topic forums up everyday. Pretty soon just the list of topics for discussion will be 8 pages long."

The site grew again in leaps and bounds with the introduction of the Panasonic HVX200 camera. Nicknamed the "Baby VariCam," the HVX was the first camera under $10,000 to offer DVCPROHD 1080p/720p recording at variable frame rates, including the beloved 24p. DVXuser was the first site in the world to break the story of the HVX camera in March 2005 with a post that was viewed over 87,000 times before finally being retired. "No other camera has generated as much interest, criticism, argument and analysis as the HVX and a lot of that discussion happens right here," Jarred said.

The site has a ton of added content including equipment reviews, camera shootouts and how-to articles written by users, noted experts and forum moderators. Anyone is welcome to contribute. DVXuser.com also has contests like the ongoing film festivals which invite users to create short films with their DVX100 cameras, submit them and have them viewed and voted on by their fellow forum members. So far, these festivals have been incredibly popular and each has focused on a specific genre. The site has hosted Zombie-Fest, Sci-Fest and Hero-fest so far. Jarred notes, "It's amazing the talent and quality of films that members of DVXuser.com exhibit. " Each contest has grown larger and more elaborate with prizes like tripods, matte boxes, dollies, flow-pods and even Jarred's own original DVX100 camera.

"Another cool thing is we have a ton of users who literally spend all day here, treating DVXuser like it's Myspace.com," Land notes. If you look at the user log on any given moment you may see as many as 200 users online with another 200 unregistered visitors reading posts. The site uses so much bandwidth; up to a tetrabyte a day; that Jarred has been kicked from numerous hosting companies, and has had to constantly upgrade the dedicated servers that run in the background.

What may be most attractive to many DVXuser members is that the site is truly independent. "We sometimes get accused of being in the back pocket of Panasonic but the truth is we don't get a dime from them as advertisers. Sure, we love our DVX100s but there's no corporation behind DVXuser.com and no one tells me what can and can't be on the site," Jarred points out.

The site is paid for primarily through banner advertisers but none get to sign up without first agreeing that they cannot influence the site's content in any way. As a result, many users stay with DVXuser.com because they know they can speak their mind and find others to argue, agree, fight and make up with. As of this article, the site statistics included over 13,000 registered users (with many times that in unregistered viewers), more than 50,000 threads and nearly 500,000 individual posts. DVXuser.com keeps its indie cred by often being a fast and wild place where just about anything (legal) goes. Indeed, one user recently posted the following note in DVXuser Cafe:

"I am truly a bad person. My 1st year anniversary and… what am I doing? On DVXuser after the wife went to bed. I just couldn't help myself. I'd say I feel bad about it, but damn man, I needed my fix."

Unlike most web communities, which rely on a backbone of IT managers, graphic designers and HTML coders, DVXuser.com is solely the programming work of Land. The site is currently in its 6th major software version, which keeps Jarred busy late at night. He's supported by a large group of forum moderators including well-known DVXuser.com members like Barry Green, David Jimerson, John Hudson and yours truly who all volunteer their time to help out. Jarred manages to keep the site going while still pursuing his goal of being an indie mogul. Indeed, thanks to the visibility of DVXuser.com and its reputation as the nerve center of indie 24p filmmaking, Jarred has personally had the opportunity to work alongside such Hollywood heavy hitters as Steven Spielberg and Rob Schneider.

Jarred recently relocated to Los Angeles just to keep on top of his multiple roles with DVXuser. For 2006, he has more surprises and expansion plans in store. Jarred summed it up, "We're working on more elaborate contests with bigger and better prizes. We've also just started our HVX Bootcamps where we offer seminars with presentations in person from people like myself, Barry Green, Noah Kadner and Evin Grant. We show people how to do pre-production, production and post with their cameras. Our first Bootcamp was Los Angeles at Abel’s new facility and that sold out really fast. Next up is Las Vegas, New York City and then we'll see how it goes. It's a lot of fun to connect with people in the 'real world' after we've been through so much together on the site. DVXuser.com has been an amazing first three years and we'll keep doing it if people keep coming."