Sound Advice: How to choose between tape or memory camcorders

Q I need a high-def camcorder for family use. Do you think we are moving away from tape to flash memory? Do you have a favorite that you can recommend, preferably something less than $1,000? Should I go old-school and stick with tape? I do plan on editing.

GORDON WALTER, Ackley, Iowa

A The market is moving steadily toward flash memory camcorders. Besides the diminishing number of tape models, Apple recently dropped FireWire ports from its MacBook computers, a move derided by many enthusiasts. FireWire is the industry standard for connecting tape camcorders to a computer. Now tape camcorder owners are forced to buy a professional MacBook Pro if they want to use their camcorder with a new Apple laptop computer.

For ease of editing and assured compatibility with most non-Macbook computers, go for the tape camcorder.

HDV video from MiniDV tape is far less demanding for computers than the AVCHD files from memory camcorders. Another benefit is that you can save your tapes to create an archive of all your raw footage. The downside is the need to buy tapes, rewinding and searching the tapes to review footage, and the time it takes to transfer the tape to the computer. (A one-hour tape takes one hour to transfer.)

With an AVCHD flash memory camcorder, there is no tape motor, so you never have whirring noise intruding on your recordings. One of the nicest operating features is quick access to your files. The files download to your computer easily, and you won't need to buy blank tapes once you have enough memory cards.

For an HDV camcorder less than $1,000, I recommend the Canon HV20, HV30 or HV40. The HV20 and HV30 are discontinued, but I have seen leftover and refurbished models for sale in stores and online.

I wish I could just say, "Get the AVCHD camcorder." I own a Canon HF10 and love working with it. I also have a Canon HV20. Most of the time, I pick up the HF10 when I need to record video.

I use 4-gigabyte SDHC cards and burn the full contents of the card to a 4.7GB DVD-R to archive all my raw footage. Fortunately, I have a Mac Pro tower with eight processors, so I have a computer that can handle AVCHD editing. Anything less proved to be unworkable.

In the future, computing power will catch up to the demands of AVCHD. For now, you practically need to buy a matching high-end computer when you buy your AVCHD camcorder. If you are willing to do this, I'd definitely go with an AVCHD model. The convenience makes it hard to go back to tapes.