most likely you wont have to worry about someone taping on VHS or 8mm..those camera would be to hard to hide 
I'm working on getting a mini DV camcorder, or possible the new Sony DVD Camcorder which looks like a regular digital camera, so i'd be able to pass it off probably. however the recording time on a mini DVD is only an hour, where as mini DV is 90 mins. I don't know which to get really. it's bugging me. :lol:
Just a side note, but the tape I used in Nashville was a 120-minute tape.
When I chose my camera, I was a little worried that tape wouldn't be very reliable. But when I found out that solid-state hasn't evolved to the quality of DV tape (it is currently only used for MPEG-4), I went with tape and I haven't regretted it.
