I have a minidv camcorder, Sony in fact. Its great, and inexpensive. Yes you can connect via a USB cable/or firewire to a computer and burn DVD's, but its not as simple as plug and play unless you have a Sony camcorder and a Sony VIAO, which come preprogrammed to interact w/ea other and it is VERY simple to burn DVD's. Unfortunately, I do not have a Sony computer so I have to make do with my pc. That said, I am running Windows XP Media edition, which simplifies some of the process, but it definately is not plug and play. Video quality is EXCELLENT! Now with the outcome of new video technology, Blue Ray, etc... I expect prices to drop dramatically on older versions such as minidv, and DVD camcorders. Hope this helps...