When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I became a skydiver and really started acting like a child.
Not all AVIs are the same and you may very well have to download a Codec. My Win. Media player plays most tpyes of AVIs but then, I have many codecs enabled.
I bought a Canon Owl for $59 and a mini plug and socket from Radio shack for $3...spent 1/2 hour opening the camera and soldering in the remote wires and it works fine. T he focal length is just about perfect for a .5 to .6 wide angle. It's also very light. Will I get a 35 mm SLR later? Probably
Get a Sony DV camera if at all possible. There is a substantial difference in picture quality. My Digital 8 now serves as a VCR only and it's really good for that. I'm using a DCR-TRV20 and am very satisfied but I'd guess that the newer ones are even better. Note that almost all Videots use Sony and that should tell you something.