WHAT TYPES OF CAMCORDER ARE AVAILABLE NOW ?

There are now 4 main types of Camcorder … DVD Tape , DVD Disk , Hard Disk , & Memory Card . All 4 are very small in size but that is where the similarity stops - there is huge differences in price , quality , & features between the 4 types .

MEMORY CARD ONLY CAMCORDERS - GOOD QUALITY VIDEOS FOR HOME USE AT A VERY LOW COST

Small in size & they look like a mini Camcorder with a screen that pops out of the side . They use SD memory cards for video storage . They can also take normal stills pictures . In the past these were no more than normal cameras with a video mode but in early 2008 that changed thanks to improved resolutions put into these mini Camcorders . They are much smaller than other Camcorders & more easy to use . Most have digital zooms which a year ago would have meant poor quality but now you still get good quality videos . Ideal for general home use or holidays . You can play your movies on a TV or on your PC . Movies are very easy to edit on your PC using Windows Movie Maker or the software that comes with the cameras . Forget buying one with a big name like Canon or JVC - new companies have come in to the market - Odys & Aiptek are 2 of the largest manufacturers of these SD card based Camcorders . Most come with a rechargeable battery & charger . You will need to get an SD Memory Card - a 2 gigabyte Card costs £13.99 & will give you around 30 min's of video . This type of Camcorder is by far the most easy to use & to transfer your movies to a PC . Prices for SD Camcorders start from just £79 .

HARD DISK CAMCORDERS - GIVE SIMMILAR QUALITY TO DIGITAL STILLS CAMERA VIDEO MODES

From JVC comes what seems to be a good idea . A Camcorder that does not need any cards or tapes because it has a huge built in hard drive like you would find on a normal PC except miniaturised . The size of the Camcorder & the features are very much like those found on DVC Tape or DVD Mini Disk types . The JVC Everio 130 has a 34x optical zoom , 2.7 inch Screen , 30 gig Hard Drive. The cost is not so good though - at over £200 it is expensive . The idea with the Hard Drive types is that you can download your movies to your PC & then put them on a DVD Disk . JVC claim you can get up to 37 hours of video from the 30 gig. types - the quality of movie would be very poor at this setting - to get decent quality you would need to set the Camcorder to its Ultra mode which would give you around 7 hours of recording at a good quality for normal TV viewing . The quality would not be as good as you would get from DVC Tape Camcorder . You download your movies or pictures to your Computer then open your movie in JVCs software to save it as a smaller file size to your Computer or to DVD Disk . 1 DVD disk will let you store just over 1 hour of good quality video . Video quality from …EG … the JVC Everio 130 … IS NOT AS GOOD AS YOU GET FROM THE Video mode on some Digital Cameras - ask to see a our demo mini video clips in our shop so that we can show you how a normal Digital Camera Video mode is better than the movies from the JVC 130 .

DVC TAPE CAMCORDERS - GREAT QUALITY VIDEOS AT A REASONABLE COST

On their last legs now & soon to be phased out for general home use which is a pitty because video quality is still the best of the 4 main types available . They are more expensive than SD type camcorders to buy . Not as small as SD card camcorders . Video quality is very good as is the sound from DVC tape camcorders . They use DVC mini tapes which last for 1 hour . You can view your videos on a normal TV or you can transfer them to a PC if you have a firewire port but you would then need to edit the movie using Windows Movie Maker or an eqivelant program . They have tons of features including huge optical zooms & good quality screens to view or use to take movies with . They are not as easy to use as SD card Camcorders but are still fairly easy . We still think that DVC tape Camcorders are the best around but realise that most people just want a small & easy to use Camcorder which gives decent videos - which is why for general home use the SD Card type may be a better bet .

DVD MINI DISK CAMCORDERS - EASY TO TRANSFER TO YOUR COMPUTER BUT VIDEO QUALITY IS OK ONLY

In theory the DVD Mini Disk types of Camcorder are the best to go for because they seem to offer a much easier way of transferring movies to a Computer & / or watching the movies on a normal Television . DVD Camcorders use A Mini DVD Disk instead of a Tape or Memory Card . This Mini Disk is just a small 8cm version of a normal sized DVD Disk . You record your movies on to the Mini Disk then put the Disk into your Computers normal DVD ROM drive & transfer the movie to your Computer to edit it or to copy it to a normal DVD Disk - then you can re-use the Mini DVD Disk ( providing it is a rewriteable one ) or you can just use normal non rewriteable Mini Disks so you store all your movies on the Mini Disk you used to record on to originally . Features on the DVD Mini Disk types of Camcorder are very much the same as on DVC Tape types … Optical zooms of around 20x to 25x , Stereo sound systems , Ultra low light movie making , 2.5 inch to 2.7 inch wide screen TFT screens , Photo button for taking not very good quality stills pictures , & Image Stabilisers . Prices for DVD Mini Disk Camcorders are around £50 higher than DVC Tape types - they start at around £220 for a reasonable quality Camcorder . Before you go out & buy one of the DVD Mini Disk Camcorders though there are a few small things that many shops will not tell you . Firstly is the Movie quality - shown on blue next to this is a quote from Canon Uks web site on 5th June 2006 …

" What is the difference between DVC and DVD? … DV records data on a cassette tape whereas DVD records them on a disk. A disk cannot hold as much information as a cassette tape, which is why DVD uses a much heavier compression scheme than DVC, drastically affecting the quality of still image. On top of that, tape is more superior for time-shifting than a disk which is very limited in what can be recorded on it. " You can see from this that Canon themselves admit that the quality of video or stills from the DVD Mini Disk type is not quite as good as you get from DVC Tape types . The next problem is compatibility of the Mini Disk with DVD Players - some DVD Players will not take some of the recorded movies from DVD Mini Disks so it is possible that you may also have to purchase a new DVD Player linked to you Television . The price of this type of Camcorder has fallen to under £250 now so they are worth looking at but we would still advise you to buy a DVC Tape type .

ODYS MCA-5 ... Shown above . SD card format . Ultra small in size . Rechargeable Lithium battery ( the MCA-5 also comes with the charger ) . 2.4 inch TFT screen for video viewing or taking . 5 million pixels stills camera with built in flash . 4x digital zoom but no optical zoom . Easy to use . Comes with an internal memory but if you get an optional 1 gigabyte SD card costing around £7.99 you will get 30 mins of video . Ideal for general home use . Costs £79 .

AIPTEK 6800-S ... Shown above . SD card format . Ultra small in size . Rechargeable Lithium battery ( the6800-S also comes with the charger ) . 2.4 inch TFT screen for video viewing or taking . 3 million pixels stills camera with built in flash . 4x digital zoom but no optical zoom . Easy to use . Comes with an internal memory but if you get an optional 1 gigabyte SD card costing around £7.99 you will get 30 mins of video . Ideal for general home use . Very much like the Odys MCA-5 but with less pixels for stills pictures but a better lens which gives slightly better video in very low light . Costs £79 .

ODYS MCA-8 ... Shown above . Very much like the Odys MCA-5 but with a slightly better lens & more internal memory . SD card format . Ultra small in size . Rechargeable Lithium battery ( the MCA-8 also comes with the charger ) . 2.4 inch TFT screen for video viewing or taking . 5 million pixels stills camera with built in flash . 4x digital zoom but no optical zoom . Easy to use . Comes with an internal memory but if you get an optional 1 gigabyte SD card costing around £7.99 you will get 30 mins of video . Ideal for general home use . Costs £89 .

JVC 815  ... Shown above . DV tape format . Small sized body - superbly made . 33x optical zoom . Top quality lens . 2.7 inch Wide TFT monitor that can be used to record or playback movies . Stereo sound system . Movies can be transfered to a normal VHS Tape or just viewed on yout TV . Night shot mode . Very easy to use . You can also transfer movies to your Computer . Costs £149 .

PANASONIC VRD-50 DVD ... Shown above . DVD mini disk format . Small sized body - superbly made . Huge 42x optical zoom . 2.7 inch TFT monitor that can be used to record or playback movies . Stereo sound system . Transfer movies / watch your movies on Computer or on a normal TV by inserting the mini DVD disk into your Computers DVD ROM drive or into a DVD player linked to your TV . Hight quality lens makes it better than most DVD Camcorders in low light but we would still recomend you buy an SD camcorder or a DVC tape type camcorder . Costs £239 .

PANASONIC SDR H-40 HARD DISK ... Shown above . Hard Drive type camcorder . Built in 40 gigabyte hard for around 8 hours video . Easy to use . Transfer movies to your computer via the supplied USB cable . 2.7 inch screen for viewing & recording movies . Stills picture mode  . Long life rechargeable lithium battery lasts around 45 mins before charging is needed . Big 42x optical zoom . Small in size . Costs £309 .