Advice on Camcorders

Triangle

Hey all,
My wife is looking at getting a camcorder for her birthday (she's always had an interest in video). She said she was interested in a DVD recordable one - I have my doubts about these (i.e. Shaking them may cause recording issues, can it record good video at DVD recording speeds?)
Does anyone have any advice for her? i.e. Cannon are a great make.......Best value for money Hitachi.........Good 'dark' recording facilities in this camera xxxx.
Shes just looking for one to record the kids, Parties, any family get togethers - nothing special.

Thanks for any advice in advance.
Trig

StephenC_IRL

dont go DVD, those cameras are evil and are just a nuicance to finalize the disks,

HDV or miniDV is your best bet, sony do some nice consumer level HD camera's

extopia

MiniDV is fantastic value since the DVD camcorders started being preferred by consumers. If your wife is interested in video, she'll probably want to edit the material, in which case you want to stay away from DVD. MiniDV is better picture quality too (less compression). You can get good cameras for around 200 these days. Have a look at any of the Sonys.

Triangle

Thanks for the advice.
She went and got a Sony 32E. She loves it.
She had a MiniDV previously - got it 8 years ago and it fell apart eventually (8 years is a good time)
Anyways - it looks and feels good - we'll see how it goes.