Can anyone recommend a good camcorder?

My girlfriend is looking to buy one and I've been reading so much on different formats and blah blah my head is spinning.

The main use for the camera is to record races at her local track on the weekend. So preferably, whatever the format is, it can record 3-4 hours on as few DVD/tapes as possible to keep costs down, maybe even be able to record over old ones would be nice.

I've read that with 8mm/Hi8/MiniDV/D8 you have to use the camcorder to watch the tapes (unless you buy an outrageously priced player). Would doing this every week cause significant wear on the camera? Are these formats easy to transfer to DVD with a computer or would it be one of those things that gets really old and becomes a nuisance week after week of doing it?

Are these newer DVD recorders anything to brag about? I read that they can only record up to one hour on a DVD. One hour DVD coupled with higher costs of recording doesn't seem like the ideal for what she's going to be doing unless I'm missing something.

The longest battery life available (at least up to 4 hours) would be preferred as well.

I guess I'm asking for the impossible here. Long recording format, long battery life, ease of use, and hopefully (but not absolutely necessary) a format that's easy to share among friends without the need of special equipment like the camera itself.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

If it were me, I'd go with a DV camera of some sort, and use a video editor like Avid Free DV to load the footage onto a computer, then save the files as encoded DivX or XVid files, which you can easily fit 1.5 hours onto a single CD. Handy eh? You could also potentitally share these over the internet (you can compress files down to quite small sizes - depends on the quality you want).

Most DV cameras come with Firewire interface, so you can play the videos into your computer just like you would with a video capture card. You can even control playback from the computer.

Google Avid Free DV (sorry, too tired to get a link right now).

 

Thanks for your suggestion goldfish. She decided on a JVC GZ-GM35 for its recording capacity, batter power (aftermarket anyway), and it can be put on the puter and burned to DVD. Thanks again.