[ferretchucker]

Mine is a mini DV camera. It records to miniature tapes that can be put into larger casings that fit into VHS's, or it can connect to the computer.

It does this with a firewire. Kinda like a USB slot but it has to be fitted to your computer. It's a pretty simple job. And make sure you have a good wire. With that, I just use windows Movie Maker to "Capture Video". It does this by having it set to "play" and then it rewinds the tape and you tell it when to play. It records whatever it sees, just like a VHS recording from the TV.

I don't know if you knew about that. But one thing is certain, if he wants to upload to youtube, be sure to ask if the camera connects to computers. Many don't. Mine is a JVC GR-D720. It has 28x optical zoom and pretty good picture quality.