New camcorder or capture card?

[Steppenwolf_27]

Hello,

I need some help making a decision. I'm going to be traveling abroad and I want to be able to save videos on my laptop. I have a Canon Hi 8 camcorder.

I'm wondering if I should get an external capture card to plug my camcorder into, or if it would be worth it to get a new mini DV camcorder. I would like a harddrive camcorder, but I can't afford one of those.

So, it would be cheaper to get an external capture card. Will the quality be significantly lower if I use an external capture card with my Hi 8 camcorder versus using a mini DV camcorder?

Thanks!

[pfloyd]

Am I correct in saying that this model does not have a firewire connection. I searched the web and found two Canon models using HI 8 and neither had firewire, just A/V, so, I am thinking that an external capture card wouldn't do you any good as the only cards i've seen are firewire. (I could be wrong). If you buy a MiniDV camcorder you are still going to need a capture card if you laptop doesnt have a built in firewire port.
As far as the MiniDV camcorders go, they are far superior in video resolution than the DVD or Harddrive camcorders, plus the MiniDVs are easy to edit.
Hope this helps somewhat................cheers!