A good place to find reviews of specific cameras (and other tech stuff) is www.cnet.com; they may not have every model you are looking at reviewed, but it's a good place to start!
We cannot recommend specific brands on this site as that could be construed as "advertising". Which camera works best for one person will be a complete piece of junk to another, even if it is the identical brand, so there is no real way to state without any discord which camera is best or better than the other.
The best thing to do is try to rent these, one at a time, and try out all their features before you actually purchase one. Or compare them using one of the many resource publications or internet sites and looking at performance and reliability issues with each one. Most reviews today indicate that in terms of quality, AVCHD has achieved image quality comparable with HDV. Consequently, HF100 seems as good as HV30 and, apparently better than HG10. There are many arguments in favor of SDHC card-based camcorder over a MiniDV tape-based one. SHDC cards can be had for $25 for 8GB these days (Aug 08), and will continue to drop. SDHC seems to be the future. Since HF100 is less expensive than HV30, this would be my choice.
The difference would be about the same as the jump from VHS to DVD (if it's a miniDV camcorder) or from VHS to bluray (if it's a 720p or better digital camcorder.)
No, for sure not, as it is a MiniDV Camcorder
The difference between them is a dvd camcorder has a dvd drive where you put a dvd in and the video that you record will be burned to the dvd, MiniDV camcorders are cameras that burn the video that you took to a small tape. I personally like dvd camcorders because each video you take is in a separate file, as miniDV cameras are 1 giant video.
One can purchase a Canon GL2 MiniDV Camcorder at any store that sells cameras. This includes Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, and Target. Alternatively one could order it from Canon directly.
That would be the Canon GL2 Pro MiniDV Digital Camcorder With 20x Power Zoom.
The Sony HDR-HC3 High-Definition MiniDV Camcorder allows you to record video and take digital still photographs at 4.1MP.
JVC GRD230 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom do good macro
A hybrid camcorder is a camcorder which can record onto multiple storage mediums. The main classifications of camcorder storage mediums are 1) Tape (MiniDV, HDV, DV, etc) 2) Flash Memory (SDHC, MemoryStick, etc) 3) Hard Drive 4) Optical Media (DVD, Blu-ray, CD) Each has their own benefits and drawbacks, so a hybrid camcorder is a camcorder which can record onto more than one media. See related links for details about different types of camcorders. For example, a MiniDV camcorder that can also record on a SDHC card. Or a Hard drive camcorder that can also record on memory stick.
The key features of the Sony DCR VX2000 MiniDV digital camcorder are that it now has an LCD screen, image stabilization, digital zoom, and a very high captured image quality.
Converting VHS tapes to DVD can be done by first connecting the VCR to a camcorder using a cable with three plugs on each end or a cable with three plugs on one end and one plug on the other, depending on the number of inputs on the camcorder. When the VHS tape is played, it can be recorded by the camcorder onto a miniDV tape. Then the contents of the miniDV tape need to be downloaded to a computer, and then burned onto a DVD.
It uses a 4 to 6 pin firewire which should hook up straight from the camera to the computer.
Electronic camcorders are definitely available to purchase through Amazon. An example is the Canon GL2 MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 20x optical zoom.