I was all set to buy an HDR-SR5, which I am convinced I would be happy with, but I'm getting the "about to spend $750 maybe I should spend one more day researching" jitters.

I am satisfied from my conversation in the Sony AVCHD forum that I will be able to work with the HD footage even though I don't have a Blu-Ray player (or burner) or even an HDTV. Now I want to know if the Canon HG10 would be good or better at the same tasks.

Here's my situation - I have a decent but not great computer, no HDTV, and no Blu-Ray or HDDVD toys. I want to know if I will be able to do the following:

1) Record in AVCHD;
2) Archive copy of AVCHD footage;
3) Convert AVCHD footage to standard def; and
4) Put standard def footage on regular DVD with regular DVD burner and watch on non-HD TV.

At this point, I don't need to edit the footage. I just need to be able to put it on a DVD and watch it.

Can I do that with a Canon HG10? It sounds like the software that comes bundled with the HDR-SR5 is cabable of satisfactorily converting AVCHD to MPEG-2 so that I can watch it on my regular TV. Does the Canon do that? Canon's website doesn't brag about it, and I figure if it doesn't brag it probably doesn't have the feature. Will I be able to record in HD and then watch in SD without buying anything else?

Thank you for your help, and always, I'm sorry for being a noob.

For the record, my "decent but not great" computer is a laptop, Core2 Duo 2.0 GHz, 2GB RAM, 256MB ATI video card.

Consider the HF100, its newer than the HG10 and is better.

I just purchased the HG10 about a week ago and I love it. I considered the HF100 but decided to go with the hard-drive. More convenient and wouldn't have to spend extra $$$ on memory cards when its all going to get saved to an external hard-drive or burned on DVD anyway.

You will be able to do all of the things u mentioned easily with the files from the HG10.

If u like, grab yourself Nero8 and u can do editing and have lots of options on the export types, including dvd and avchd disks with menus etc. You can get a 30 day trial and start using it, just upgrade it if u think its good.

Also consider that a 16gb SDHC card only costs $65, its almost half the size of the HDD in the HG10, soon the 32gb will cost nearly the same. I prefer cards since u can just take it out of the camera and put it into a card reader in your PC, no need wires connected to the camera .. just makes it easier. So its for that reason and sharper image due to increased bitrate, i reccomended the HF100.