Well guys this is what I did, struggling but this is where I am. Now some of you recommended the MiniDV, which is the ultra small DV tapes. A few of you said the DVD which is actually the Mini DVDs, the three inch ones. Well I went to a couple of the electronic stores and could not find a salesman willing to talk me into the MiniDV. They said the DVD was the way to go unless I wanted to spend the money and go with Hard Drive. They said the MiniDV would be fading out soon with the HD coming into play, but the DVD will be around for a while. So I compared the two. MiniDV can go one hour, so can DVD. MiniDV can edit in camera, so can DVD with DVD+RW disk. MiniDV has slightly higher quality, which you lose when you burn to a DVD disk, so no advantage to me. So I get the Sony DVD108. Then the fun starts.

The Camera comes with easy software to get the files onto your computer, no problem. But when I tried to get it onto YouTube I was very upset. The Sony Software does not even go into this. Probably would deserve a book on its own. There is a program on all Windows XP and newer computers called Movie Maker, but it only works with memory cards and, you guessed it MiniDV!! So at this point I am starting to slip into self doubt mode! So I had to go out and buy software to get the files compressed for the internet, cost fifty bucks, and the sky is the limit on price for that stuff, some go for 800 and up!

So to sum it up, from what I can tell the MiniDV would have been much more user friendly at first to get started. I was about ready to chuck the camera and the laptop out the window yesterday. So now I can work my software so I am ok now. My main concern with the MiniDV was I did not want to be dependent on hooking up my camera directly to the computer to always get the footage off. I wanted the disk and just pop them in. I wanted to take a video and come home and put it right in my DVD player and watch. Buta person would have a easier time getting set up for the Internet with a MiniDV then the DVD from my experience.

Here is my first run with it on the YouTube site. I compressed it to much since it went from a 110 MB file down to a 17 MB file. But it still looks pretty good IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WldHauRatbc