Good Video Camera

Look into a Flip Video - they advertised them at Target last week and sell them online too. It is the latest and best thing out there now. They are the size of a regular digital camera (actually smaller than mine!) and I think they are around $200. My husband bought me one last Christmas & I take it EVERYWHERE! Not only that, it's sooooo easy to download and burn to a DVD! We had an older video camera that was so cumbersome (and big!) and I could never figure out how to transfer the video on tapes or a DVD. This is the easiest thing ever to download and email too! I LOVE IT! Congrats to you & best wishes!

We love ours with a hard drive. No tapes, cards, or CDs to deal with. Ours is JVC, I believe my parents have a Sony that they like a lot. No, maybe theirs is Panisonic. Anyhow...here's like what we have reconditioned so it's cheap:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830...

Here's a search for hard drive video cameras:
http://www.google.com/products?q=hard+drive+video+camera&...

Hi! We bought a Canon Vixia HV30 last year before our twins were born and we really love it. It is pretty small and easy to carry. It uses mini DV tapes and the picture quality is outstanding! I was really impressed with it. It also has a slot for a SD card for still shots. I haven't used that feature. We usually use our digital camera for stills. It is a little on the high side for price but I think it is WELL worth it. In my experience Canon really makes great camera products. Happy shopping and best of luck with baby #3!

Golly, I wouldn't spend that much on a video camera! I've got a Flip Video camera and it's fantastic! Plus, it was under a hundred dollars. The quality is excellent, including the sound, it's tiny and slips right into a purse or pocket, and it does everything I would ever need a video camera for. The "flip" feature is a button that releases a flash drive so you can put your videos right on your computer, even right on YouTube, etc.

Flip Video cameras are also, well, pretty. :)

I got a Sony DCR-SR47 Handycam for Christmas last year, and I love it. It is very easy to use, the quality of picture is good, and it's nice and small and easy to carry. My only complaint is that the software that comes with it does not work with Mac computers. I don't know why, and I think this is stupid, but as long as you have a P.C., it's a great camera.

You are in luck with the timing- almost all brands have come out with fairly inexpensive very small HIGH DEFINITION camcorders that do not depend on those mini-DV tapes to record. Very compact and take excellent video.

On the down side, you already have a bunch of mini-DV tapes...do you have a way to play them if your old camcorder isn't working? Had you already transferred all that old video to DVD's? If not, you may want to look for something that will play those old mini-DVs AND--if you do find yourself in that spot, make sure you take a mini-DV that has recording on it to the store and make sure the new camcorder can play it....sometimes these things are sort of goofy in that regard. Good luck!