Depends on how much time you wanna spend, and how much money you wanna spend. I prefer soil. But theres other that prefer hydro, all depends on you.
For germination, 2 methods. Soak in distilled water, and/or with a rooting solution, or paper towl,
I usually use a bowl, plate, plastic wrap and 2 peice of paper towl and distilled water.
I wetten a peice of paper towl that was pre folded to a small square with distilled water, then put seed on wetten paper towl, cover with another folded up paper towl soaked in distilled water then cover bowel with plastic wrap then cover with plate, Then put in warm area.
-Good luck with your grow!