I'm looking to use the Best Buy gift cards I got for xmas to buy a camcorder in the $300-$600 range and am looking for advice. I want to be able to use Vegas 7 to edit my videos, then share them with friends and post some clips on Youtube, etc.
I spent more than an hour searching the forums and reading past discussions on this topic. I learned a lot, but most of the discussions were done months or years ago, so I thought I'd bring it up again and see if the advice given in the past still holds.
Basically, my question is: Should I get a camcorder that uses MiniDV tapes or one with a built in hard drive? (I've pretty much ruled out the cams that record to mini DVDs, but if there's a reason to look at those again I would.)
From what I read previously, the MiniDV tape camcorders capture in the DV format, which is best for editing in Vegas, while the hard disk cams capture in mpeg-2, which people say is tough to work with in Vegas.
Does Vegas 7 handle mpeg-2 better than earlier versions of the software? If not, would using a program such as Super to convert the mpeg-2 files (to what I'm not sure) make them easier to use?
Does the higher quality of DV outweigh the convenience of hard disk cams (not having to carry and switch tapes)?
Any advice would be appreciated.
I spent more than an hour searching the forums and reading past discussions on this topic. I learned a lot, but most of the discussions were done months or years ago, so I thought I'd bring it up again and see if the advice given in the past still holds.
Basically, my question is: Should I get a camcorder that uses MiniDV tapes or one with a built in hard drive? (I've pretty much ruled out the cams that record to mini DVDs, but if there's a reason to look at those again I would.)
From what I read previously, the MiniDV tape camcorders capture in the DV format, which is best for editing in Vegas, while the hard disk cams capture in mpeg-2, which people say is tough to work with in Vegas.
Does Vegas 7 handle mpeg-2 better than earlier versions of the software? If not, would using a program such as Super to convert the mpeg-2 files (to what I'm not sure) make them easier to use?
Does the higher quality of DV outweigh the convenience of hard disk cams (not having to carry and switch tapes)?
Any advice would be appreciated.