Which is the best camcorder for an amateur filmmaker?

Which is the most efficient, easy-to-use camcorder for an amateur filmmaker, who does't have any technical knowledge about cinema as yet. The price should be reasonable, a bit on the higher side would also do. Also pls explain the significance of the technical terms..................megapix... etc. It should have a decent recording time..........atleast more than 60 mins. HELP!!

SONY DCR-HC46E - MRP Rs. 26,990

http://www.sonyindia.co.in/sonyindia/pro...

Pixel - A pixel (short for picture element, using the common abbreviation "pix" for "picture") is a single point in a graphic image. Each such information element is not really a dot, nor a square, but an abstract sample. With care, pixels in an image can be reproduced at any size without the appearance of visible dots or squares; but in many contexts, they are reproduced as dots or squares and can be visibly distinct when not fine enough. The intensity of each pixel is variable; in color systems, each pixel has typically three or four dimensions of variability such as red, green and blue, or cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

For more info on Pixel visit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pixel...

For armature use 1.07 mega pixel is sufficient. The lower model is available with 0.8 mega pixel little cheaper in price. The performance in lower light is poor.

Recording time depends on the cassette you use. Always buy 60 minutes cassette only. This gives a recording time of 64 minutes. For an amateur filmmaker, a camcorder with decent quality video is about USD 300 or less.

Currently, different camcorders use 3 major kinds of storing device: (a) digital tape, such as miniDV tape with minimum recording of 60 minutes;

(b) mini DVD with minimum of 30 minutes; or

(c) built-in hard-disk with hours of recording.

Personally, I prefer a miniDV camcorder of well-known brand name for it is compact and affordable without giving up the picture quality.

MegaPixel is a reference to the still photo feature that might be part of a camcorder. (I'm waiting for a camcorder that has this feature with more than 2 megaPixel to catch up with my digital camera.)