budget, expectations and where you shop.
In the consumer space, Canon continues the ZR960 and HV40. Prosumers and pro-grade camcorders from Sony and Canon continue using miniDV tape. For a prosumer, the Sony HDR-FX7 and Canon GL2 are in the sub-$2,000 area. Maybe $350 is OK to spend for repair... My "rule of thumb" is that if the repair costs more than the replacement, then just go to the replacement, but we don't know what your budget is.
"Convincing" you that you will like converting your archive process and method depends on your budget and computer technical capability. People generally do not like change, so you are not alone. In my opinion, the "best" method will be using a multi-drive RAID1 hard drive system connected to your computer (or as a Network Attached Storage repository). This assumes multiple hard drives won't crash at the same time, at least two drives are "mirrored" in the chassis and are "hot swappable" so when one crashes, it can be replaced and the contents of the working drive are automatically copied to the new drive. When the hard drives fill, I would replace both and store them in geographically different places. Here's my issue: In 10 years, where will the drive mechanisms and chassis be to get the data from them if needed? At some point, the video data on the drives will need to be moved to the storage of the day and copying the contents of a terabyte drive (or 4 or 5) will take time and more expense. I would not do optical disc archiving - single and double layer DVDs don't hold enough data and are not a "trustworthy", good, archive media and I don't have confidence Blu Ray will be around (since streaming is becoming more prevalent).
As for the camcorders, hard disc drive (HDD) cams have known issues with altitude and high levels of vibration - and the internal single hard drive can store a lot - but when the internal hard disc drive or the camcorder fails, you *may* have challenges recovering the video (see Drive Savers or other data recovery companies). I prefer flash memory because it is removable and there is no motor associated with the memory card use.
It is not so much the media, but the AVCHD compression used for high definition video storage. Under about $700 (for the camcorder), the amount of compression used on the video is very high. Fast motion is challenging to deal with. A new computer with lots of RAM and a new video editor are required. More compression = more discarded video = reduced video quality. The data stream for DV is 25 mbps. Many of the camcorders in the sub-$700 are capable of an anemic 17 mbps data stream. In the $1,000 improved video quality results from a 24 mbps data stream. The Canon HF S series and Sony HDR-CX500 (or higher) series are worth a look.
I have owned a Sony MiniDV camcorder for over 10 years. It needs a $350 repair, so it seems wise to buy a new unit. I like the quality, affordability and archiving convienence of the tapes. The industry seems to have passed me by. I do very little editing and have moved only a tiny fraction of my footage onto a computer. Now it seems my entire model for storing and saving my footage must shift. Does it make sense for me to try to cling to the tapes by either buying a new camera (If I can find one) or repairing my old one? Please convince me that I will like the PC/DVD computer-based method of archiving. What are the pros and cons of flash drives vs HD? Grumpy about progress.

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