Do I need a camcorder with fire wire?

Question

What will this do for me??

Answer 1

ALL miniDV tape based camcorders transfer DV format video using firewire to connect the camcorder's DV port to the computer's firewire port. Under certain conditions Windows operating system computers are able to transfer video over USB, but this is no longer supported and it is generally not the high quality DV or HDV you want to edit. Since DV and HDV are not as compressed as the other storage formats found in hard disc drive (HDD) or flash memory, miniDV tape based camcorders continue to provide the best available video quality.

Some JVC hard drive based camcorders also use firewire for video transfer. For the most part, all other HDD and flash memory camcorders copy the video data files from camcorder to computer over USB.

So... if you want best available video quality, you will use miniDV tape. To import that video to your computer for editing, you need to use firewire.