Camcorders - Educate me please?

[Shuemue]

Okay, I have a kid on the way, and want a fairly decent camcorder. Any suggestions? I don't know what my budget is, I'm don't really know what the minimum worthwhile spend is.

HDD? DVD? HD? idk

[Avanarius]

I'd definitely go with something HDD 60gb or more. You can't possibly imagine how much video it really holds. As for HD, it really depends on how much HD capability your home has and if your computer has the power to encode it or a TV that can play it etc. The regular non-hd HDD cameras record to DVD like quality anyways so it's really up to you.

As for an actual recommendation I've only used Sony HDD so I don't really know but it seemed to work really well.

[Kohan]

One quick and important note:

Try if at all possible to get one which lets you attach an external microphone.

Most people don't think about this and it makes a phenomenal difference in sound quality.