Am looking for a new camcorder in the $200-$300 price range. One looking at is the Canon ZR850. Have lots of miniDV tapes, so would be interested in staying with. Would be nice to have one that accepted SD cards as well, and had firewire and USB connection. Any suggestions? Other than something like Sony Vegas, what are some good software choices for editing videos?
Your choice depends on which assets in the camcorder are important to you. I recommend to check out http://www.camcorderinfo.com and read the reviews on some of the camcorders in your price range. I don't know why you want SD cards. Be aware that most miniDV camcorders only use them for storing stills, not for video. I don't know any miniDV camcorders that don't have Firewire on board. I also would not consider USB very important, unless it is used for transferring stills from the SD card to your PC.