Unless you really want a DVD based camcorder...AVOID.
Compared to MiniDV, they are substantialy lower video quality, even on max quality settings (which reduces your recording time down to about 18mins), they offer nothing in improved battery live or a smaller physical size, and they make things difficult for editing on a PC.
The only "advantage" over MiniDV is that you can put your disk straight in most DVD players and watch it straight away....thats where any positives end.
The marketing folk would have you believe that because its "dvd", it must be better, but it simply isnt the case.
HD Hard disk based recorders are the way forward, but MiniDV still offers the best image quality because its uncompressed.