Camcorders: Help me buy my birthday present

[BOBOT]

I want a digital camcorder to fool around with, record myself playing guitar, etc. I've never had one before, so I'm not familiar with the technology. What features do I want to look for (or avoid)? Recording media? Hard disc? Playback capabilities? Image stabilization? Batteries? etc, etc.

Any specific recommendations?

[ERD50]

I'd suggest that you check out the hard disk models.

Tape is just a bad thing. I had a mini-DV camcorder jam up just a few months out of warranty. When I looked at all the little pieces in that mechanism, it's a wonder they *ever* work.

I've been told to avoid the ones that record to a mini DVD. I guess it can be hard to pull the images off for editing, and a glitch in the record process can wipe out the entire DVD.

Another option is the video mode of the digicams. Our Casio does very good video quality, I think a 2GB card gives an hour of video? But, it is not stereo. You can get camcorders with mic inputs which can really improve the sound. Oh, and set it to 16Bit digital sound if there are options. Some come preset to 14Bit which allows an added track for dubbing.

-ERD50