The PXL2000 consists of a simple aspherical lens, an infrared filter, a CCD image sensor, a custom ASIC (the Sanyo LA 7306M), and an audio cassette mechanism. Artist John Humphrey's 2003 video, Pee Wee Goes to Prison was shot on a PXL2000, employing a cast of dolls and other toys to stage the imaginary trial, incarceration, and eventual pardoning (by newly-elected president Jesse Ventura) of Pee-wee Herman for the sale of Yohimbe. Because the unit is degradable and obsolete, its use is aligned with a certain romanticized mortality, unfit for serious mainstream appropriation. The camera has been used for several music videos, including "Mote" by Sonic Youth and "Black Grease" by the Black Angels. It scans the 120 × 90 pixel CCD 15 times per second, feeding the results through a filtering circuit, and then to a frequency modulation circuit driving the left channel of the cassette head, as well as to an ADC, which creates the final image for viewing.

Although the festival operates without a budget, [16] it still manages to tour many locations [2] :7 including the San Francisco Cinematheque [14] and Boston's MIT campus. Festival entries, oral history interviews, and other relevant materials donated by Fialka are being processed into the Performing Arts and Moving Image Archives at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.The PXL2000 has received a minor revival in popularity since the 1990s among filmmakers, due to its point-and-shoot simplicity and low-grade aesthetic. The higher speed is necessary because video requires a wider bandwidth than standard audio recording. This is mounted in a plastic housing with a battery compartment and an RF video modulator selectable to either North American television channel 3 or 4. Peggy Ahwesh's Strange Weather (1993), which follows several crack cocaine addicts in Florida, was shot entirely on a PXL2000. After that one year, it was pulled by the market, but rediscovered in the 1990s by low-budget filmmakers who appreciated the grainy, shimmering, monochrome produced by the unit, and the way in which its lens allowed the user to photograph a subject an eighth of an inch away from the camera, and pull back to a long shot without manipulating a dial, while keeping as the background and the foreground in focus.

In 2018, Toronto filmmaker Karma Todd Wiseman used a PXL2000 to shoot key scenes, processing the footage with enhanced monochrome. In 1990, Pixelvision enthusiast Gerry Fialka founded PXL THIS, a film festival dedicated to projects shot exclusively on the PXL2000. Erik Saks wrote this: "Each time an artist uses a PXL2000, the whole form edges closer to extinction.The festival continues to occur annually in Los Angeles, California, usually at the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center [14] and the Echo Park Film Center, [15] with Fialka continuing as organizer and curator. Benning's early video diary works gained popularity in the artist market, earning them a lasting reputation as an innovator, with an important presence in video art. Another Girl Another Planet (1992) and his short Aliens (1993) were shot with it entirely, it was used for point of view shots of the title character in Nadja (1994), and it was used by the title character to make video diaries in Hamlet (2000).

The market success of the PXL2000 was ultimately quite low with its targeted child demographic, in part due to its high pricing. It is also appreciated by collectors, artists, and media historians, and has been used in major films and spawned dedicated film festivals. The custom PXL2000 camera was fitted with windshield mount suction cups and painted with the red and white paint scheme of the Canadian flag.The PXL2000 records the video information on the left audio channel of the cassette, and the audio on the right.