If you do not want to edit and you have plenty of money to spend on the mini disks, go for the minidvd.
If you want the highest quality footage, full control over editing, cheaper media, the ability to overwrite your media, go for the minidv.
With minidv, you will have to have a DVD burner to create DVD's as well as a firewirecard and cable for transfer to your PC. Luckily, these things can be found for cheap these days.
I've read alot of posts that's been posted on this site and pretty much, I've been able to pull in some type of info from each comment. However, I'm still stuck as to which route I should take between the MiniDV and the DVD camcorders. Now just to let you know...I'm just in need of a camcorder for family and vacation purposes. Basically, all I need is a camcorder that'll give me a very good picture quality, easiness to use and will provide no hassle when I decide to watch it later on. At the same time, I want something that will give me maximum record time. I like the idea of using the DVD camcorder for the simple fact that you can record straight to a DVD disk and watch it as a normal DVD. But I'm hesistant because I've heard that you can only get as much as 20-30 minutes of max record time on one disk. Can someone provide to clarity and feedback on this. I'd gladly appreciate it.

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic