A camcorder tripod head setup
You can cobble something together for a camcorder using a still camera tripod and some kind of video head but you are going to hurl invectives at it under anything other than a studio situation. Without a set of tripod legs that includes a ball leveler, in an outdoor situation you are going to be spending a lot of time adjusting legs to get the video head level. And without a level head - forget pans. You want lever lock legs - making small adjustments with twist lock legs will drive you nuts. Real fluid heads cost in the thousands of dollars - but there is at least one so-called fluid head that works nicely with light camcorders - the Manfrotto 501 head. This head has been replaced by a newer model that according to many reviewers is a joke compared to the older 501. Older 501s are still available from many on-line sources. My experience with Manfrotto 501 head and a Sony VX2000 and the HV20 is good. You can adjust the drag for vertical and horizontal movements to be very smooth and free of backlash even with the light HV20. I have my drag set so there is no break-away jump on initiating movement and no jump-back (backlash) at the end of the move. Works great.
You can buy good tripod legs that have a built-in ball leveler, one reasonably price set is the Manfrotto MDeVe (Mini-DV) 745b, which is specifically designed with smaller camcorders in mind.
I see the 501 head is selling on ebay for between $150US and $185US A set of Manfrotto 745b legs will run $200US
You can go up in price and quality from there and you can also go downward in price and quality. YMMV
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