As a young adolescent I dreamed of one day being a Cinematographer or a film editor. I specifically wanted to edit movie previews. I thought it was so neat when someone truly captures the feeling of a movie and makes a preview that simply pulls you to the movie theater. I took video classes and communications classes in High school and I selected my college because it had a "Multimedia" degree which involved video and audio editing. The internet was just starting then, I had no idea my skill set would lead me into web development instead of video/film stuff.

So I have always loved movies and video and camcorders. I haven’t purchased one in a very long time. So I have been sitting and waiting for those stupid tape camcorders to move on to the next generation. Sony just release a new line of HDD (Hard Disk Drive, it has nothing to do with High Def) and they start around $500 bucks.

So I got my bonus at work before we left for Australia, and I only spent my other saved up cash on the trip. That still leaves my bonus. I plan on carpeting our bedrooms with that bonus but I also had spent to spend a little bit of it on a new camcorder. I want to have video of my husband and I of our first house and us in our 20's (I won't be in my 20's much longer so I better get a move on!).

So this Friday I have what they call the "Big U/S" aka the big ultrasound event in which you determine the gender of the baby. I know some places give you tapes but other places aren’t allowed too, so most modern girls are bringing along their camcorders and recording the "show".

I would love to be able to "youtube it" so my parents can see it! So I just ordered myself a camcorder. I did lots of research so if you’re in the game for one here is the low down.

Sony Handycam DCR-SR62

It retails for $649 but Amazon.com sells it for $580 which is a darn good price as Wal-Mart isn't even discounting it. Here are the important details: the 1/6-inch Advanced HAD (Hole Accumulation Diode) CCD with 690K effective video pixels provides stunning detail and clarity, for exceptional video (up to 520 lines of horizontal resolution) and still image performance. Realize great-looking digital still images with 1,000k effective pixels.

If you go one model down (and save $100) it goes down to 320k or something efp, even if you don't know what that means, by simple math it's clear it's half the quality. So it makes sense to go spend that $100. For $150 more you get this: DCR-SR200 - The 1/3-inch ClearVid CMOS sensor with 1990K effective pixels provides stunning detail and clarity for exceptional video (up to 530 lines of horizontal resolution) and still image performance. The Mega pixel technology enhances your digital videos and digital still (3980K) photography performance.

Now that WAY better, but then you are spending nearly $750 dollars. I really didn't want to spend over $600 so I made the very hard choice to get the DCR-SR62. I still almost wish I could re-do the order but I did overnight shipping (only $3.99 with that free Amazon prime demo!) so it's too late to undo it, but I think that's for the best. I really didn't want to be spending that much on a camcorder. I'm a techno gadget girl so you can understand my plight!

So oh yeah, these camera's are HDD (hard disk drive) that means they don't use TAPES!! No tapes to buy ever again!! EVER! The model I am getting with the 30gig hard drive fits 7 hours of video, freaking fantastic! I'm thrilled. I told two co-workers about it and they both already bought one. I just wanted to get it before Friday. You can get High Def HDD camcorders but they are over the $1,000 range. No thanks, I don't even have an HD TV. We bought one, well our MIL/FIL got it for us as a wedding present, but I was so mad john Stewart looked so bad in HD because we didn't have HD DirecTV we immediately took it back and got two normal TV’s in its place. I am one of those people who despite being a serious gadget geek I refuse to buy first gen crappy stuff. I won't get an HD TV until all basic cable packages are HD and all stations are broadcasting in HD. These HDD camcorders aren’t the first go round, the first go round was awful and wasn't even into "mega pixels" which if you are familiar is like digital camera's. So this one I am getting is 1 mega pixel, you can imagine that 3 years from now there will be 5 to 10 mega pixel camcorders coming out, another reason I'm not going to spend more money on it.

Okay that's enough of a techie rant for you all but I thought some of the less geeky folks might be interested. You just plug this thing into your laptop and there is a 1 touch button that burns a DVD for you :) sweetness!

ps. there has been knitting but I don't want to jinx myself :) lol so that's all I will say for now!