Any recommendations on a camcorder?

[Shelly679]

I'm thinking of buying a camcorder - have never owned one before and just looking for some recommendations.

Mini Dv, Disc or HDD?

What brand is most reliable?

Am looking to spend no more than about £200 as it is for first steps, birthdays etc.

Was out window shopping last night and seen that one its really lovely. What is the picture quality like on it?
The shops I was in seem to be split in their opinions some tell you to go for the mini dv type as this is the best picture quality and the HDD is no good while others say that HDD is just as good if not better.
There is also a sony one I was looking at model SR36 if anyone has one for picture quality etc.

We have a Panasonic DVD-RAM model. It's really unreliable, always having problems with the disks. The service people said it was fingerprints on the disks, but I can't see any fingerprints on the one that has just failed, losing a load of videos of PFB

What I was told when looking for a new one is that HDD is better quality but in order to get it you need to be spending £500+ the lower priced ones arent any better than a tape.If you arent spending that amount then tape is still the best quality at the moment.
The other good thing about tape is that because the tapes are so cheap you can keep them as a back up copy should anything happen with your hard drive. Advise against the DVD models as they are prone to faults and DVD's dont last for ever and are easily scratched/corrumpted which means you could lose your footage.

thanks princessofpower got the jvc everio one in currys last night, have been impressed with what I have seen so far