Need some very short term help picking my first HD camcorder.

Like most here on AVS, I would happily spend about 2 months researching any electronics purchase under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, my regular camcorder just officially crapped out and I need to have a camera in hand to record a family event this Sunday. :(

Image quality is my primary concern. Will be editing video on a high end mac with Imovie. Like to keep final cost below $1200. TIA

If image quality is your top concern, you might want to use HDV. It's tape based, so that might be an issue for some.

The Canon HV20 gets rave reviews all the time and is gettable at aroudn $700.

Check out camcorderinfo.com for reviews and stuff.

ft

I'm looking to buy a new HD camcorder too, and here's what I've found after spending too many hours here:

The latest format is to record using a .264 encoding called AVCHD (either to Hard Drive or Flash Drive) which works great with Blu-Rays, but you need a hefty computer to edit. Most people here seem to hold that the compression to .264 causes a slight degradation in video quality, especially in low light or fast action scenes, so if that is your top priority, you probably want to stick to DV tape which uses the HDV encoding (similar to Mpeg2).

The Canon line seems to be the standard that Sony and Panasonic get compared too.

If you are looking for the newest cameras announced at this year's CES, the Sony's start to come out next week. They have a couple hybrid models recording to hard drive or flash card.

In mid march, the Panasonic flash card camera's should be out.

In mid May, the Canon line comes out.

But the last years Canon tape (HV20) using HDV or hard drive (HG10) using AVCHD are what people are comparing this year's cameras to, so you won't go wrong buying either of those cameras (and you can get them pretty cheap as stores empty their shelves for the new cameras coming soon).

This year's cameras add a few more extra features, and in the case of the AVCHD cameras, a little more bit rates (should bring the quality a little closer to HDV).

Hope this helps.