Video camera recommendation?

[teach]

As far as I can tell, it's been almost a year since the last thread on this topic. The company of the swing program that I have, JC video, recommends the Panasonic GS line of cameras. Has anyone bought a video camera in this series? I saw some nice reviews of the Panasonic PV-GS39, but I don't know if this video camera is suitable for taping the golf swing. In general,

1. What features should I look for in a video camera that will be used mainly for golf?
2. What specific models might you recommend (Panasonic or any other brand. For some reason the head of JCVideo doesn't like Sony, but I'm not ruling it out at this time.)?
3. Do all video cameras attach to a tripod?

I should add that the last video camera that I bought was before camcorders were manufactured, so ease of use would be a *huge* plus. Think "Videotaping For Dummies," please. Along those lines, I'd also like a camera that would allow me to simply "plug and play" into either my aging computer or my VCR (yes, I still have one).

Thanks a lot.

teach