Tapes or mini DVDs?

Question

I use iMovie to edit for my websites and to prepare footage for DVDs to preserve family history. I'm going to purchase a new camcorder. Two questions:
Should I purchase a HD camera?
More important: should I purchase a camera that uses tapes or mini DVDs for best results?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Very nice!
But doesn't the light coming through the window make it difficult to see your laptop screen? (..perhaps you close the curtains..)
Like AppleMan, I (sometimes) use a Panasonic SD5. But because it's lightweight, and the few controls are all grouped together, I find it a bit "fiddly" and a bit wobbly to use. For anything serious I prefer the weight of a miniDV (tape) camcorder. Many of them have a proper pressure-sensitive vari-speed rocker button for zooming, too, instead of the rather awkward left/right slider zoom as on the Panny.
I also generally still use older PowerPC Macs, and the AVCHD format of the newer camcorders takes longer to import (..on my Intel Mac mini..) than the less compressed standard miniDV format or the similar hi-def HDV-tape format. And I can't import AVCHD (..the format used by the little Panny..) on a non-Intel Mac, unless I use some third-party software to reformat it into the kind of video which iMovie can handle.
So for "snapshot" quick'n'simple "family having fun" movies I may use the Panny SD5. For more "important" weddings or other special events or "serious" shots I use a tape-based camcorder, like baexandre's Sony camera, or something with a few more manual controls on it (..for adjusting the incoming audio, etc..)