What is the cheapest MiniDV player that has firewire connectivity?

[space-time]

Mac-A-Matic wrote:
One word of caution re: Canon MiniDV cameras.

I've used two over the years. The first one I purchased in 1999 and used it for about five years before the tape mechanism started to act up. Then I bought a new one Feb 2007 and it crapped out this summer.

There's something known that's wonky about Canon MiniDV mechanisms - problem is, they share the same mechanism from the El Cheapo model all the way up to the XL series.

I too need a new camera for loading video to the computer. I'm thinking about going with Sony because they have better mechanisms - though I do love the image quality of the Canon.

I heard about this too. Did Canon acknowledge this after all?

Also, have you looked at Panasonic? I have one and the video quality is amazing.

EDIT: let's replace amazing with pretty good. I am not a professional by any means. just shot some vacation videos.

[DRR]

FWIW I just went through a Panasonic camera ~$300.

Had it for a year, put about 25 hours of use onto it and got the "push reset button" failure. Maybe it was my camera but now I am wary about Panasonic.