Need camcorder buying advice

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I need some advice on buying a new digital camcorder. Here are
features I think I am looking for in the camcorder.

- I was thinking of spending $500 for the camcorder and another $200
for a DVD burner for my computer and maybe another $50 for some video
editing software.

- I value convenience above picture quality. Obviously, I want a
decent picture, but I don't think I will appreciate the difference
between a great picture and a good picture.

- I want to be able to burn my videos to a DVD as easily as possible.
I doubt I will do any serious video editing such as adding captions or
trying to improve the quality of the picture.

>From what I have read, the camcorders that capture directly to a DVD
are not practical because they only store about 30 minutes of video at
the highest picture quality, and the disks are expensive.

That leads me to believe the miniDV is the right format for me.

I have read lots of reviews on the Sony DCRHC30. Most of the reviews
were good but I have a few concerns:

- Everyone seems to agree the software provided by Sony is useless.
But, if all I want to do is save one copy of the video on my computer
and burn another copy on a DVD, can the software at least do that? If
it can't, can I buy another software package that will meet my needs,
or do I HAVE to use the Sony software to read the picture from the Sony
camcorder.

- I have read some complaints that soon after users purchased the
camcorder, the camcorder warned of a dirty head.

- I have read some complaints that you can hear the noise from the
camcorder motor on playback.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks