There is no cure for cancer – but despite a hellish diagnosis, Michael Nadorff’s mother still wishes to document her experiences:

Hi Chris, I hope this finds you well. First of all, I love the website and YouTube channel and miss the Tech TV days! Anyway, I have a pretty big question for you that I hope you can help me out with. My Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and most likely has less than a year left. Because of this, she wants to make videos that she can do on her own and then leave us with when that day eventually comes. Because of this, I am trying to get the best setup I can for her. She has a laptop which she can use and it is good but she isn’t a very techy person so simplicity is a major plus. Given the circumstances, I am not worried in the least about cost, I will pay whatever it takes. I just am looking for the best setup that she can use on her own that also will leave us with great video to remember her by. Do you have any ideas? I would really appreciate all the help you can provide on this, I can’t tell you how much it means to me!

First, Michael – please send my best wishes to your mother. I’ve had relatives die from some form of cancer or another, and I’ve also been following a friend through his own cancer treatment.

You could run out and purchase a webcam to connect via USB (Logitech’s Ultra Vision has the best visual quality going at the moment, though its built-in microphone leaves much to be desired). Or, you could repurpose a DV camera through its FireWire connection. They’re both valid options, and I’d definitely recommend the latter.

If you want my honest opinion, I’d suggest getting a MacBook (or a used one, so long as it has an integrated webcam). Even though you could buy a “PC” with a built-in camera, I think OS X provides a much more complete / uncomplicated experience for novices. More than anything, having an integrated camera will keep the cord mess at a minimum. But…

Convenience aside, OS X supports DV camera FireWire audio and video – whereas I’ve discovered Windows Vista won’t recognize FireWire audio at all. I only recommend the DV camera because years from now (and this goes for anybody), you’ll always wish you had recorded something in better quality than you did.