Which is better a dvd camcorder or a tape or digital for the money?

Not sure of the three is the best for the money I'm on a budget.

It probably depends most on what you want to do with the videos you record. If you want to put them aside and watch them later with no editing, get the DVD camcorder. If you finalize the DVD after recording, you can watch it on most set-top DVD players. These DVDs are an easy way of sharing your video, too, as you can just hand over the DVD and almost anyone can watch it in their DVD player.

If you want to edit or use your video on the computer, any of the three would work, I think. I know most people say don't get a DVD camcorder if you want to edit because it's compressed and it's hard to get it into your computer in order to edit the video, but that's not the case with me. I use Pinnacle Studio 10.5 and can import my video from the DVD, then edit and burn to larger DVD for a keepsake video.

If you get a tape or hard drive camcorder, you will only be able to watch it on that camcorder. It's not easy to share it with friends or family. To watch it on TV or computer, you have to hook the camcorder up to the TV or computer. Also, you have to use USB or firewire to get the movie from the camcorder to the computer. Once you do, though, you can probably use any movie editing software (Adobe Premier, Movie Maker, Studio, and there are lots more out there) to edit it.

If you are on a really tight budget, you could start with one of the cheaper camcorders from Aiptek. Their newer ones have much better quality and resolution than they used to and you can get one for around $120. They usually record onto a memory card (SD or CF), which makes it very easy to transfer the video to the computer. Donnie83 (above ) really gave you the best answer. Took the words out of my mouth.