i just bought a canon zr 950 from best buy, and i don't think the rep on the phone told me everything i needed to know. i asked her if i should just buy the 8GB memory card rather than tapes...and she said yes, the memory card is so much better. now i have the camcorder, a memory card, but no tapes - it's not going to work, is it? i thought i could record video right to the memory card, but all it appears to be capable of is taking still photos. UGH. can someone just respond and either tell me i'm missing something, or confirm that i'm an idiot and i need to go back out and buy some mini dv tapes? thank you.
You need tapes, a firewire cable, and if your computer doesnt have a firewire connection already, then you will need a firewire card. Remember, firewire is for video. USB is for photos.
pfloyd - thanks so much. so, basically, the 8GB memory card I bought will only store still images while in the camcorder? i thought the video footage could be stored on the memory card, and then i could insert the card into the reader which I also bought, and connect to my computer. no luck? there are camcorders out there that don't require tape, right? what are your thoughts on using one with tape vs. without? thank you for your help.
Also, most camcorders can only use upto 2GB memory card. I had the ZR950, and it took fantastic videos on tape.