Camcorder help needed

[sooner n houston]

Ok people, working away from home sucks BIG time. This is especially true during football season when your son is the starting running back and middle linebacker for his middle school team. So my question, how important is the optical to digital zoom on a camcorder? What range should I shoot for? I'm counting on the wife to record his games from the stands. What type camcorder should I buy?

TIA!!!

[BoogercountySooner]

Optical Zoom good Digital Zoom Bad!

That is all!

[SoonerBorn68]

What BCS said. Digital zoom is fuzzy. Have you looked into getting one of those nifty new ones with a hard drive instead of tapes/disks? My next camera will be one of those.

[SoonerStud615]

Actually, the Mini DV tapes are better quality than the hard drive cameras. Despite the convenience, the tapes are actually better picture. Unless you are loaded and spring for the HD hard drive ones.

[oumartin]

i use mini DV tape one for all my "personal" home videos.