A few concers about quality

I am new to camcorders and am planning to buy Hitachi DZMV 550A. I have a few concerns about it
1) the dvd-r's will I be able to view in any dvd player will i be able to make copies of the DVD's
2) the picture quality is it comparable with the miniDV format
3) will I be able to have reasonably good night recording

I would really appreciate if I could get some insight into my queries, Thanks