This Thread has evolved over a long time, and Technologies have changed in that time, so of course it is a lot to take in. The simplest way I can express it would be Tape based cameras do not compress the video they record. ALL other cameras do. If you plan to edit your video an uncompressed original is an advantage. Non tape based cameras have advantages in terms of ease of sharing video, time to transfer etc. You can still edit non tape based video, however this process isn't always straightforward. Now get out there shoot some video and share it with us on our Video Sharing Page