Hi, I'm an old goat & I just got myself a Panasonic HC-V180 camcorder & I need someone to please explain in layman's terms what setting I should use for recording & advice on what battery to use as I'm just shooting family stuff, nothing fancy.

My main question is use AVCHD or mp4.

Apologies for the copy and paste from the manual but the terminology is doing my head in.
Currently I have my camcorder set to AVCHD 1080/50P as I'm in Australia.
The manual gives me the following advice -

When [AVCHD] is selected
[ALL AVCHD]/[1080/60p]/[1080/60i]

When [MP4/iFrame] is selected
[ALL MP4/iFrame]/[1080/60p]/[720/30p]/[360/30p]/[iFrame]
The following icons are displayed on thumbnails when [ALL AVCHD] or [1080/60i] is touched:
AVCHD [1080/60p] scene:
AVCHD [PH] scene:
AVCHD [HA] scene:
AVCHD [HG] scene:
AVCHD [HE] scene:
The following icons are displayed on thumbnails when [ALL MP4/iFrame] is touched:
MP4 [1080/60p] scene:
MP4 [720/30p] scene:
MP4 [360/30p] scene:
iFrame scene:

What is confusing me is if recording in mp4 is the better option for a newbie is what exactly does PH,HA,HG,HE mean? I did try googling and it was mentioned it was quality vs size and HA is the best mode and not to bother with the rest of the modes?

Lastly should I buy the larger capacity battery for this camcorder? I know it's an obvious question but a lot of people are saying just buy a spare low capacity battery unless your using it for a living.

The Panasonic HC-V180 manual is at the following link if my post doesn't make any sense -

https://www.panasonicstore.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/V180.pdf

Thank you in advance for my lack of understanding of this new fandangled technology

Regards

TazDave