If I was only beginning this hobby, I'd certainly opt to hop directly into the modern times and go for a hard disc based system. They are really very good these days.
Woefully it'd mean all too much work and too much wasted money by now, so I'll end up a dinosaur with an inferior setup sooner than any of us is prepared to accept the fact. (Right now I'm cutting edge digital [disc] with hardly anything better on offer, at least on paper, but tomorrow... you know, with the physical format I'm stuck with my setup and the shelf meters in use... One should always be evolution-ready instead.)
-PT