I am thinking about buying my wife a video camera for Christmas but I just dont know what to get. Do they even make the ones that use VHS type tapes anymore? I am kind of old fashion. That what I would like. Whats up with these digital camcorders. Where do you store the videos and what do you do with them? Burn them to DVD? Also was looking and thinking about one of those DVd camera But I dont know about that. I only want to spend between 400-500 dollars? I dont know just looking for some input that is not a pushy salesman.

MiniDV is the way to go.

Great quality video and stereo sound, easy to transfer and manupulate on a PC.  DV video (uncompressed) is 170MB per minute so it takes up a LOT of hard drive space.  Best storage is to leave it on the tape or burn it to DVD.

I've been using camcorders since 1/2" reel to reel.  MiniDV is the cats meow.

check out www.dvinfo.net/conf/

its the arfcom of DV

Do you need a DVD burner to burn to DVD. Also what do these things run $$?

Quoted: Do you need a DVD burner to burn to DVD. Also what do these things run $$?

yes, to burn a DVD you need a DVD burner


$100 at newegg.com (CHEAPEST)

added: or you could burn movies at medium/low quality VCD on a regular CD using NERO burning rom

i have a Sony 8mm that is nearly new i'd sell at a very good price, it cost $1,400 new, i also have 4 NIW tapes, charger & all accys., i also have a nearly new 8mm Sony tape player/recorder......

I've got a Sony Betamax that I'll let go of real reasonable.

rk

My digital camcorder (Canon Elura 50) uses a “Mini DV Cassette” tape for storage.

You can hook up the camcorder to a TV for playback (so long as the TV has inputs).  Incidentally, the camcorder will probably come with a remote.

I don’t know of any purely playback machine that you permanently hook up to your TV like a VHS type VCR, but I’d think they’re out there.  But you just don’t need one.

Assuming you’ve got a DVD burner and some sort of digital video input (like a firewire) on your computer, you can put the video on your hard disk, edit it (if you wish) and burn it to a DVD.  I understand you can also burn it to a plain old CD (if you’ve got a CD burner), but the quality isn’t very good.

You need a fast computer with a lot of unused hard disk space to do this.

If you get a digital camcorder, consider getting one with an analog input so you can also run old VHS and other analog tapes through it and into your computer.  (Though maybe they’ve all got analog inputs, I’m not sure.)

The above is my understanding of things; I emphatically am not an expert in this area!!

Good luck!

Edited to add:  Opps!!  Gaspain already mentioned burning to a CD!

ditto on recording to 15¢ cds to make a VCD.

ive reused the same tape MANY MANY times.. get home make a VCD .. rewind the tape and get its ready to go again..
for decent VHS type quailty.. a 15¢ cd will hold about 45 minutes of video.

I have a sony Hi8 that cost me $269 at bestbuy.. I am very happy with it..

I dont edit or do any fancy stuff with it other then point shot and watch.. and Im happy with it.

Do they even make the ones that use VHS type tapes anymore? I am kind of old fashion. That what I would like.

You have opposable thumbs… adapt, crawl out of the cave, and walk upright.

Mini-DV is the way to go, VHS is not even close to Mini-DV Quality. You can get an acceptable Mini-DV camcorder in your price range (one that blows VHS, Hi-8 ect. away) and for a couple of hundred more a really outstanding one.

Analog camcorders are a dead end. Getting quality analog (VHS, Hi-8) video into a computer is a real pain, it will never be as good a digital, it will also cost you extra for a conversion device.

With Mini-DV you can get every thing you need for a full days filming in a small fanny pack. If you ever decide to put the video into your computer and edit or burn DVDs, VCDs the Mini-DV cameras Firewire connection makes the process easy.

Where do you store the videos and what do you do with them?

You can just leave them on tape if you want or burn to DVD.

DVD computer burners are cheap now... they can be found for under $100 and Sony just dropped the price on theirs to about $150 with rebates, I paid $350 for my Sony DRU-500AX in February.

There are also stand alone consumer DVD burners that you just plug your Mini-DV cameras Firewire cable into and make direct copies to DVD without the computer.

IMO get Mini-DVD or you will regret it in the long term.

Quoted: i have a Sony 8mm that is nearly new i'd sell at a very good price, it cost $1,400 new, i also have 4 NIW tapes, charger & all accys., i also have a nearly new 8mm Sony tape player/recorder......

Dude, not to be mean but it's worth about $100 max.

Whats this firewire thing. Is it like a USB port?

Quoted: Whats this firewire thing. Is it like a USB port?

It is simalar to a USB port. Firewire(IEEE-1934 or iLink) is a very fast connection that will enable you to upload your movies from your camera to your computer at 400MB a sec. To upgrade your computer with a PCI firewire card is about $15 bucks.

Then you use a program on your PC like Vegas or Windows MovieMaker to edit the footage then burn to disk.

Only get a Panasonic, Sony, or Canon, because these are the most reliable and techically advanced cameras on the market. I own a Pana DV-953 and love it, got it from buydig.com- good company.

I can recommend these cams for your price range:
Panasonic PV-GS70 3CCD $649.00 @buydig.com
Canon Optura 20 $552.00 @buydig.com
Sony DCR-TRV19 $555.00 @bhphotovideo.com

Whats this firewire thing. Is it like a USB port?

Kind of like USB on steroids.

Similar, but much faster than USB1.1 and much more stable and reliable for larger file transfers or video editing than USB 1.1 or 2.0. Firewire and USB can also be used for external hard drives, scanners, CD/DVD burners ect.
 
You may also see Firewire called IEEE1394 or I-Link (by Sony). It was original introduced by Apple, comes standard on all their computers and comes on many new PCs.