So many choices for camcorders these days?? I'm lost! What should I buy?? Here is what I would like---HELP!

Just found out a couple days ago that my wife and I are going to be having our first child, and I'd like to buy a nice video camera to record everything. I don't want to break the bank...I've seen camera's costing into the $1000's! Yikes! I don't need one that nice...but as I shop, I see plenty of cheapies...but you also get what you pay for. I get lost in all of these different kinds of cameras....HD, mini-disc, dvd, hard drive. What to buy??

One other thing in MiniDV's favour - it's cheap! Once mini-DVD and hard drive camcorders came along MiniDV wasn't seen as being sexy and the price dropped.

Bill said IF you have firewire (my emphasis) - if you haven't, it's cheap and easy to install a firewire card.

I'll reiterate the "Don't buy a DVD based camcorder" message - they take a few seconds to get up to speed before you can start recording - that's a real pain when you're trying to capture the moment with a young child. In similar vein, if you want to capture the moment you have to be able to use the camcorder fairly instinctively - make sure you physically try any camcorder before you buy it.

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There seems to be a misunderstanding about why you'd want to edit your video. It's not just about adding titles, music (good things) and fancy transitions (bad thing!) it's also about getting rid of the huge amount of rubbish that gets recorded and selecting the few moments that capture the story you're trying to tell. Please forgive me if that sounds poncy and pretentious, but the idea is to end up with something that you, your family and friends will enjoy watching - watching unedited video is better than root canal work only because it's cheaper!

What is your budget?

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Highest compression of the available storage formats results in lost data = poor video quality... especially if you have any intention of ever editing. The DVD based camcorders will compress into a VOB file typically not useful directly by most video editors. That typically means ripping the DVD or using the analog AV cables that come with the camcorder and transferring low-quality analog video through a analog/digital bridge.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

The BEST quality video comes from camcorders that use miniDV tape (which record into DV format for standard definition video). There is very little compression applied and if your computer has a firewire port, DV can be editied by pretty much any video editing application. You will use the DV port of the camcorder connected to the firewire port of your computer - using a firewire cable (firewire, i.Link, IEEE1394 are all the same thing).

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Higher video quality than DVD based and not quite miniDV tape based camcorder video quality are the hard drive and certain higher-end flash based camcorder - they typically compress a lot into a MPEG file format. Most (not all) video editors can deal with this with not additional codecs - but the translation apps are available for all editing apps to deal with them.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

When you use MiniDV tape, it is your "archive". Fill a 60 minute tape, pop out the tape, put in a new one and start rolling. I can use around 5 seconds from the time I press stop, replace a tape and am recording again.

When you use a hard drive based or flash memory based camcorder, what happens when you run out of memory? You need to transfer video to a computer, delete the files from the camcorder and start shooting again. Yes, they hold many hours of video - you have to be sure to clean it out each time - just like you need to remember to carry blank tapes.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Video is only part of the whole ecosystem. Most low-end and mid-range camcorders do not have any manual audio control and have to rely on an auto audio leveling circuit. For the most part, this auto-audio gain mechanism cannot deal with loud music - this can be loud from a marching band or loud from amplified instruments. The resulting audio will be muddy and not usable. You can either find a Sony camcorder (DCR-HC28, DCR-HC96) that has a menu selection for normal or low gain for the audio or you can use an external device to control the gain (like a BeachTek XLR adapter - but you would be using a camcorder with a mic-in jack and XLR mics) or you can find a camcorder with manual audio control. The least expensive ones I know of are the Canon HV20 or Sony HDR-HC7.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Both the Sony DCR-HC28 and DCR-HC96 do not have a proper mic-in jack - they do have a Sony proprietary "active interface" shoe. Normally, that would mean you are locked into using ONLY Sony proprietary mics that work with the proprietary shoe... but, if you get http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/47... ... then you can use any mic or XLR adapter with a 1/8" jack. B&H is the only place these seem to exist - you can't even get them directly from Sony!

You can get a nice camcorder for under 600, it just depends what you want to use it for.

DVD: Records on mini-dvds. The advantage is that you can just take the dvd out and play it on a dvd player - nothing to hook up. Disadvantage is you only get 30 mins (for erasable discs) or 60 mins (for perm discs)

HDD: Stores to an internal Hard Drive. Advantage is you can store sevearl hours of video. Disadvantage is you need to transfer your videos to a computer to put them on dvds. Other disadvantage is all your eggs are in basket, so to speak.

Edit: Okay Bill G blew me out of the water on this one. But Hey:) He says some good stuff too, all correct. Overall, it depends what you want to do with it. Shoot simple videos, or do fancy editing, etc. I actually do have a dvd camcorder, but thats because I don't do anything with my videos besides watch them, and make regular dvds out of them. so it works for me.

Wow, Bill G needs to chillax. Seeing as you're not taping stuff for a living, it doesn't make sense to get half the stuff he suggested. First, I think you've confused two formats. MiniDV and miniDVD are very similar by name, but completely different by format. MiniDV shoots on tapes, while miniDVD shoots on, well, miniDVDs. There are no full-sized DVD cameras. Don't run away from tape though. It all depends on what you want to do. I think for you it'll probably be a toss up between DVD, hard disk drive (HDD), or HDV (HD video but recorded on a DV tape). DVDs will be the best choice if you are used to the old VHS days: just record and watch. That's it. If you want a little bit more freedom by adding titles, fancy shmancy transitions and/or music, HDD cameras will allow you to transfer your footage to your computer many times faster than DV tape (which is captured in realtime i.e 60 minutes=60 minutes of capture time). Both of these options won't require a bleeding edge computer; if it's a few years old, it should be all right. You won't need a fast computer for HDV either, if you're not editing. However, this will require you to hook up your camera to your HD set every time you play the tape. Just like the good ol' VHS days, but without the Playpack adapter (and no, you can't buy one for DV tapes). Obviously, the advantage of HDV is the ability to have HD quality video. When you edit, this can pose a problem, as you have to capture in realtime, 5 minutes=1 GB, and you will need a fairly fast computer. Also, even after you've edited the footage, you'll need an HD-DVD or Blu-ray burner (rare in consumer computers), or you'll have to output to tape again, which means you'll have all your titles and music, but you have to use the camera to play it. However, Panasonic has a new line of Vixia camcorders which can record HD to memory cards or hard drives, so if you are considering HD, then this will be slightly more convienient. In either case, of course, you'll also need a corresponding method of watching it on your HD set.

So what it really comes down to is if you want ease of use, go for DVD, HDD, then HDV, in that order. If you want HD, then HDV, or the new Panasonic Vixia camcorders will be what you're looking for. Hope this helps!