camcorder with hardrive?

[asok]

I am in the market for a new camcorder. I am interested in some of the new ones with hard drives. This seems like the best way to get home movies and put them to your computer. I always have stupid problems with dropping frames and such. A camcorder with a hard drive would seem to eliminate this problem. However, I have noticed that most of these capture in the mpeg2 format. I have never had much luck with editing in mpeg2. Are there any hard drive camcorders that don't record in mpeg2? So what would y'all reccommend?? Hard drive or not? Any recommendations? I am looking to spent less than $700.00 and am not to worried about hd capabilities at this time.
Thanks.

[thecoalman]

I always have stupid problems with dropping frames and such..

You should not have that problem with a mini-DV cam either. If you're only experience so far has been with analog cams, mini-DV is whole other ballgame.

[edDV]

I am in the market for a new camcorder. I am interested in some of the new ones with hard drives. This seems like the best way to get home movies and put them to your computer. I always have stupid problems with dropping frames and such. A camcorder with a hard drive would seem to eliminate this problem. However, I have noticed that most of these capture in the mpeg2 format. I have never had much luck with editing in mpeg2. Are there any hard drive camcorders that don't record in mpeg2? So what would y'all reccommend?? Hard drive or not? Any recommendations? I am looking to spent less than $700.00 and am not to worried about hd capabilities at this time.
Thanks.

First choose the format you need. For standard def, DV is still most reliable and versatile for image quality, editing and effects. There are external hard drive devices that record off the IEEE-1394 port but they aren't cheap.

So, hard drive recording advantages can be had with MPeg2 or AVCHD formats but they are highly compressed with disadvantages for post editing, or pay ~$700 to add that capability to DV or HDV.
http://www.fullcompass.com/brand/FEH/Disc-Based-Video-Recorders.html?gclid=CO2rpqCsn4k...FQRDYwodtTThpg
http://www.videoguys.com/FireStore.html