[Voorburg]

I'm looking to purchase my first ever camcorder for a vacation I'm planning for June.

I'm thinking about a Canon HD camcorder (model # HG10 AVCHD 40GB) but I have no experience with such a device. The UK's MacFormat magazine gave this camcorder a very good review.

Is this HD camera to sophisticated for a novice life myself ? Also, I understand that iMovie can't edit HD cameras or at least has difficulty doing so. If iMovie isn't a good tool for an HD camcorder like this one, can I edit and produce a DVD using Toast 8 ?

All suggestions and recommendations on camcorders are welcomed.

Thanks a lot.

[Heyoka_Happiness]

One thing I look for when purchasing a video is will it serve my purpose. Ask yourself what kind of video do you want to record next year or the year after?

You need an Intel Mac to work with AVCHD cameras.

{quote}Is this HD camera to sophisticated for a novice life myself ? Also, I understand that iMovie can't edit HD cameras or at least has difficulty doing so. If iMovie isn't a good tool for an HD camcorder like this one, can I edit and produce a DVD using Toast 8 ?{quote}

iMovie can't edit natively. If you get Final Cut Express it will give you more options in your editing and edit HD natively. You already have an DVD burning app free. iDVD. You can export from FCE or iMovie to iDVD.

"Personally I would sick with tape based cameras.
Hard drive based cameras use compression technologies that are not designed to be edited; AVCHD, MPEG-2 and H.264. Which means using AVCHD you get more footage on you HD camera the using MPEG-2 compression.

For another reason once your HD in your camera is full your done recording until you get the footage to your computer. Unlike tape based cameras all you need is to pop another tape in and keep recording."