Why is my sunlight footage from DVX100a look like this? Please help..

You need to shoot with the sun behind you, or use some ND, or close up the iris....or a combo of some of these things.
 
Wow - what a cool effect !

I'm just wondering if this much blowout wouldn't actually damage the camera ???

ND (neutral density) filters are your (and your camera's) friend. They are an absolute necessity in video work to control the amount of light entering the camera. Digital camera sensors have a very limited range of exposure sensitivity. Since you can't crank the shutter speed to 1/2000 sec or stop the lens to f64, you use these to get the exposure within acceptable parameters.
 
ok. i have some uv filters ordered. the camera looks great indoors (live concerts), and in outdoor shade. once sunlight enters, it gets really bright. i'll play with the iris as well.
 
The ND (Neutral Density) filters inside the camera move in front of part of the lens internally and cut the amount of light allowed in. UV filters won't help; they will just protect your lens from rocks or obnoxious kids. I've used that effect before in a music video. If you're getting that effect, you are obviously in manual iris. If you have your display settings set to all or partial, it will say the F-Stop on the mid right of the LCD or EVF. I mainly use the ND 64 (more light cut out) when I am shooting in broad daylight or at a very bright object. I use ND 8 (less light cut out) when shooting at dawn/dusk, shade, concerts or bright subjects. Also, the more open your iris is, the shallow your depth of field will be. So even if I can get a perfectly exposed image at ND 8 or ND 64, the difference of either around F-8 ish vs. almost open, the background will be softer if it is open all the way.
 
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