Which camcorder format is the best with the cheapest price?

Question

All of them have pros and cons.
Hard Drive - If it fails, you lose everything and the unit will have to be replaced.
DVD - Does it look good?
Mini DV - Seems kind of antique. Like the VCR tapes.

Answer 1

MiniDV is far from antique. I think it's because VHS has given tapes a bad name. If you want the cheapest prices, with the highest quality, miniDV is the way to go. MiniDV cameras start at lower prices than the other two formats, and extend all the way into the pro-range with the XL-H1, a $9,000 HDV cam. No other format offers this wide range of features and prices and the quality (not including pro formats, that is). DVD cameras start at lower prices than hard drives cams, and they both use Mpeg-2 compression, which causes quality loss. Dvd media is more expensive than miniDV tapes, pretty much the only thing they are good for is if you just want to pop in your dvd into your TV and watch without editing. Hard drive cams' starting prices are the most expensive out of all the formats, and ends around $1,000, so there aren't a whole lot of price choices. They are best for watching on a computer, and can be edited, but not as easily as .avi. Also, when burned to DVD, the quality will suffer because the video is already heavily compressed when put on the hard drive. Also, they are the easiest to lose all your footage, as hard drives are susceptible to damage when bumped around. MiniDV is the easiest to edit, the highest quality, and although it takes up a lot of hard drive space (5min= 1 GB), the video can be deleted after editing, and the tapes can be saved for years. While they can't be popped into a player and watched, simply transferring the footage to a computer and burning to a disc takes minimal effort for a high quality finished product, and editing is very simple as well with the aid of easier to use editing software such as windows movie maker and imovie. And finally, miniDV tapes are the most rugged out of all the formats, and can withstand lots of shocks and jolts. Hope this helps!