All kinds of camcorder/digital video/related software questions

My first child is going to be born next week, and as part of my fatherly duties, I purchased a camcorder, so I can bore my enemies to death with hours upon hours of drooling baby footage.

It just came in yesterday because I've been dragging my feet, and once I got it out of the box, all of the questions started coming to me. It is an HD camcorder that records exclusively on flash memory (SDHC cards) in the AVCHD format. I may have been stupid getting HD and/or a flash only CC and or an AVCHD model, but that is what I bought, and now I must use it.

Here's all of the questions I can think of right now:

If you ask me about still photo cameras, I can at least talk to the talk. I know to go to www.dpreview.com or www.fredmiranda.com for equipment reviews, for instance. I know if you want to talk Rockets, you go to bbs.clutchfans.net as well. Are there any de facto standard best websites for consumer/prosumer digital video hardware and software?

What is the best editing software for the AVCHD standard? I can use a MAC or a PC, but my laptop is PC (and I know it the best), so I might prefer PC software........though I promise I'll give strong consideration to you MAC guys. I've glanced at Final Cut Express, but it doesn't seem to be well reviewed. I've also glanced at Adobe Premiere Elements, but it doesn't offer native support for AVCHD. I'm a complete noob--and getting to be older than dirt--so easier is probably better. In other words, a fully advanced program would probably be lost on me.

The camcorder has an HDMI output, so I know I could send HD signals to an HDMI input on an HDTV, but my TV is maxed out on HDMI inputs. I'd like to just burn my movies to DVD. Can you even put HD video on a regular DVD? I know it takes more ones and zeros, so I'm guessing that a DVD that is accustomed to handling two hours of video in standard definition might only hold thirty minutes of high definition............but can it even transfer the information to the TV quick enough? Or do I need to get a blu-ray burner for HD? Or is there a better way? I'd hate to think I bought an HD camcorder without a decent way to play back the recordings (in HD), but I'm starting to wonder if I didn't think this through before pulling the trigger.

Hosting. I know I could host videos on youtube, but youtube seems to be all about content with poor quality video. I have marginal creativity and almost no talent, so I'm going to need to rely on vibrant colors and crystal clear video quality if anyone is ever going to sit through something I put together. Are there any sites that host videos in HD quality? I don't mind paying a small stipend for this. For instance, I use smugmug for my wife's and my still photos, and we're really happy with that. Something along the lines of that (or flickr, or whatever), but for HD video would be awesome.

I know I have more questions, but I can't think of them all right now, and I'd probably be better off posing these questions on a website like the ones I've asked for in my first question above. Anyway, I'll be out of pocket for a while, so thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on my questions.

 

Any good websites/forums that you guys recommend?