Camcorder buying help

[Halcyon]

A friend of mine is after a camcorder.
There are a whole load out there and I reccomended her the Mini DV ones.
Does anoyone know of any good places that have some good deals?

I think she should avoid the DVD ones as they are more bulky and I havent heard much good from them.
Ideally a good optical zoom is needed and a firewire out for connecting to PC.
Yet it has to be easily playable back on her TV too.

Anyone bought a camcorder recently and can reccomend anything ?

Many thanks.

[Aragorn]

What sort of budget?

I have an old JVC miniDV which is good (GR-DVP1, no longer on JVC web) and very small (smaller than my first digital stills camera!).

If she has the budget (~£400) what about a JVC Enverio? Records direct to a hard disk as MPEG, same format/quality as DVD recorders. Not quite as compact as some, but leading edge!

[Halcyon]

Thanks Aragorn.
Budget is approx £350.
I saw this JVC one...
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/5632002.htm

If any one knows any good shops or certain makes to avoid, please let me know.

[Aragorn]

Looks OK to me - JVC certainly does it for me - you can get that model for £30 less at Amazon! Good reviews on Amazon as well.

---------- Post added at 17:50 ---------- Previous post was at 17:39 ----------

Even better deal at Empire Direct -JVC GR-D340 for £235! My JVC came from them.

Also recommend ebay for DV tapes - bought three JVC miniDV's for under £8 incl postage - from this guy.

[Halcyon]

Thankyou.
I'l pass her on the information.
Many thanks.