there is no analogue in DV (digital video) !
personally i like having stuff backed up on tape, hard disks can die & develop faults as well as limit you in record time.
I agree with Evil Santa on this.
First: There is no difference in quality between the taped media and the HDD media in regards to this camera. They both are digital media. There is an advantage to the HDD camera in one regard: it will be much quicker to transfer the footage from the camera to your computer for any editing or duplication purposes.
In my opinion, this is your ONLY advantage. Taped media has something that HDD media does not: unlimited backup space. Consider that if you record directly to a camera's HDD, when you download your footage to your computer, in a year, you delete that footage. If you lose the DVDs youve burnt, or if they get scratched, all your footage is GONE. for good. Never to be seen again.
If you record to tape, you always have that tape. [of course, tapes go bad over time, but tapes remain considerably more durable than HDDs do at this point.]
I completely disagree with Carl- I think HDD recording has it's specific, situational advantages, but I personally do not want to lose my footage. I shoot video for a living- if my HDD backup of the video goes down, I'm out.
Also, consider the fact that you're always limited in terms of space. This, to me, is the no-seller on HDD systems.
DV and HDV take about 13 GB/hour to store, give or take. Which means that you get like 2h15mins of footage. After you record 2 hours of footage, you'd better hope you're near a computer, and that your computer is powered up and ready to download, and that it's all smooth, because you'll have to stop shooting, download all the footage, and start again. I'd much rather just pop in a tape and be sure I don't miss anything while I'm shooting. It may be convenient for smaller events, but I find this to be ridiculously limiting.
As for the mics themselves, I agree with Carl here- the shotgun mic is intended to isolate sound from one or two sources. This one even allows you to change its sensitivity and focus, which seems like a good idea. However, the Amazon reviews for it are TERRIBLE. So I'd stay away. I'd consider your second mic choice- it's likely to give you significantly better audio quality than the in-camera mics. But if you can, invest in a good sannheiser or shure mic.
Good luck, and have fun with a great camera!