I know absolutely nothing about digital video and was hoping to get some help/advice. I would like to buy a camera to take video of family, workouts, live music, and general life stuff. I would of course like the best quality picture I can afford and am looking for ease of use since I'm a beginner. I am also looking to be able to make my own videos/DVD's, so I'm looking for advice on video editing software also. I'd like to be able to say, take twelve 10 minute videos and pluck a couple minutes from each to make one video; add music, etc. Like I said, I am new to this so I am completely in the dark. My high end budget for a camera would be about $750 at this point, but something less expensive that works just as well is fine with me obviously. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

It's hard to replace a LOT of reading with just a few words. My only thought would be to consider high definition, as that will be the "standard" in the near future.

Start reading - visit Best Buy and Circuit City, and pretty soon you will have a pretty good idea of what to do. Empty your wallet, and do NOT take your credit cards with you on the first few visits!

Good luck!

Dave

Based on your budget, you can get the tape based Canon HV20 for $699.99 or if you prefer a camcorder that records to SD cards, you can get the Panasonic SD9 although it’s a little over you budget at 798.99.

The advantages of the SD9 are that it’s much smaller, a bit more reliable because its flash based and every time you record something the clips are separated.

The advantages of the HV20 are that it records to the HDV format which is a heck of a lot easier to edit if you don’t have a powerful computer and with tape, you have instant archiving. You would have to always transfer your SD9 footage to either a hard drive, data DVD, or a data Blu-Ray disc every time your memory card is full.

You couldn’t go wrong with either of these camcorders.