A Good Video Camera?

[Minimoto]

Anyone know a good video camera? My price range can go up to around $500 or so.

[Chez]

it depends what do you want it for, what do you want to record on(dv tapes, SD cards, or just a camera with a harddrive), and how much control do you want.

[NeoQuixotic]

I'd look at either the Canon HV40 for HDV tape based recording or the Canon HF11 for flash memory recording. They are both above your price range, but anything below is generally pretty crappy (ie all the Flip, Kodak, and portable cameras). You can get in the sub $300 range easily, but you are only looking at standard defintion video, which nowadays is lame being YouTube supports 1080p now. The HV40 (HV20/30/40) has a huge community around it, and so do the flash based Canons. So if you want to know how to use them to their full extent, you have a wealth of information available. Either camera can shoot stunning video with a decent amount of manual control. As Chez said, it all depends on what you want to do with your camera.

[Minimoto]

Well... all I want is a portable camera that has good quality video that I can extract to my laptop and edit in Vegas.

[Minimoto]

I looked at the two you showed me and Canon VIXIA HF11 AVCHD Dual Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder appealed to me. It's actually fine if it's over the price range, just thought I'd see if there was a good one around that area.