I still believe in tape. There are alot of nice camcorders out there. I would definetly look online for some reviews. The reason I like tape is because to me, they are far more reliable then a DVD. I've seen DVD's flake out 1 month after and some have lasted me a couple years. The problem with DVD's is they are not meant for a long term use. Even with the Taiyo Yuden's which are the best out there, they still can fail with the dye.
My method is Tape --> Firewire to PC - > 2 DVD's ->1 offsite and 1 onsite.
Every 3 to 5 years I'll copy all my DVD's. This way the tape is still good. Tape lasts a LONG time if not used over and over. And since I record ONCE on it, no issues there. Store all media in a low humidity, low light area. I give one to my mother in law just in case of a fire or something. Our children's videos are important to us. My boss overwrote his tape and after 6 months went to play his DVD's and found out they no longer read the data. All that to save on a 5 dollar tape.