Camcorders....HDD the way to go?

Necronomicon

I've been looking into buying a digital camcorder lately. I knew pretty much nothing about them until friday when I called into a camera shop, and I was taken through one or two things. The guy told me that they have come on another two generations from cassette, that dvd came out and now hard-drives are on the way in. He said though that hdd camcorders are pretty new and I might be better holding off until they become more mainstream. Anyone recommend a good digital camcorder? And a good editing program to buy with it?
Thanks.

monkeyfudge

I'd say mini DV is still your best bet.

You can get a firewire card for your computer for about €25 or so and you'll be able to stream footage directly from your camera to the computer. Something like Pinnacle is nice little editing package that is easy to use for beginners, and it's very affordable too.

Of course if you have a Mac, the chances are it already has firewire and iMovie on it.

The only thing to watch out for then is if you want to got with a 1 chip or 3 chip camera. 3 Chip cameras would be more down the prosumer end of things.

If you're just starting out and want to cut your teeth with some editing the I'd recomend just picking up a Sony Mini DV camcorder.. should only be around €500 for a fairly decent one and you'll get great quality out of it and if you find yourself getting into it invest in a more expensive camera futher along the line and maybe try out Adobe Premiere for editing.

I'm more of a Mac person myself... so others might be better able to advise you on PC software.

Necronomicon

Yep don't have a Mac, but thanks for the reply.

david

Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 all the way for me.