This is my first camcorder, so I cannot really compare to anything else that I' ve owned.
I did try a JVC minidv,but was not overly impressed and went with this one over the Sony DCR-HC62 and JVC GR-D870. The JVC I tested was the GR-DA30 which according to JVC ha sthe same sensor as th GR-D870 which was highly rated.
The Sony was interesting due to the infrared low light feature however I will never know if it's any better in low light and am satisfied with the ZR950 although the night feature has some noise andyellow tint, but trying different settings and is getting better.
I honestly do not believe that either of teh camcorders are great in low light so not disappointed with my choice.
Of course this uses a DV (IEEE1394 or firewire) connection as do all miniDV camcorders and if you have a PC you could easily find this out by searching google or reading the specs on the respective sites for the camcorder you are interested in.
A lot of newer motherboards come with a firewire connection, but it's a 6 pin and the camera has a four pin so you need a 6 to four pin cable. My laptop (Compaq 8510w) comes with a four pin connection so I hve to buy a four pin to four pin connecton and will buy online. I already had a 6 to 4 pin cable I used on my desktop.
You can find a firewire card for your pc for under $20 and a cable for about $15 or less.
For those that think this is wrong then they may want to go back when PC's didn't have a USB port and had to buy a card with one to add to their PC.
I bought 60 min cassettes so the battery life prettymuch coincides with the tape length which I want to record. Also ordered more cassettes and an extra battery.
I am thouroughly satified with this purchase as it cost me $220 CAD at FutureShop in Canada.
At this cost; the features, and video quality are pretty much more than I expected from a first camcorder.
I just love the feel over the Sony and should be a deciding factor. I've two Canon cameras and pretty much had good luck with them, so this also helped my decision.
I have Vista on my PCs and was easy to dowload the captured video, but not an expert and took the same amount of time to download as it did to shoot the video. I did not need any special software as it used Vista software (Vista Ultimate).
I also tried Corel Video Studio V2 pro but didn't understand how it worked so no comment.
Well, I'll just say taht you need a video editing software if you want to clean up attach and burn DVDs. I played around with Nero Vision which I also have but once again I can't really comment .
Conclusion is that if you want decent video quality at an inexpensive cost then this camcorder will suit your requirements.
If you want pro quality go for the big buck ones. Note atht after looking at three minidv's I can only say that the recording mechanisms pretty much all look the same so the differeneces in these camcorders would be the sensor and processors.
Good luck in your choice.
