Sony HDD handycam DCR-SR80

I am going on record and calling this our worst purchase ever. The camera takes excellent video and having the hard disk format is great, but right now the camera is full and I don't have the time it takes to transfer the files. The camera's MPEG 2 format means that many programs do not work (most notably for us Windows Movie Maker). Also it generates huge files that are too large to upload and share on our blog or You Tube (conversion is required). Burning DVDs became a problem when we lost the software to the camera. Sony nor Pixella (the software manufacturer) will replace it despite the $995 original price tag of this camera. Yes, I am thrilled with the customer service! In recent months we have tried various third party software. Conversion programs have had difficulty with the format. Editing software (Sony's Vegas) was time consuming to use (1 1/2 hours to upload video and burn a single DVD). Tim bought me more third party software today in hopes of improving our situation. Maybe we will finally be able to put the camera to use this Christmas. The idea is great, the quality excellent, the usefulness: negligible. At this point the sight of the thing makes me furious. While in the past months Sony has introduced new models, changed the software, and made improvements, this model is still for sale. I hope others who consider purchasing it first do a Google search regarding problems with the SR 80 and if you decide to buy remember to hang on to the software (don't buy it without it) and I wish you a far better experience.