Where do I start?

The decision about what camcorder to buy depends entirely upon what you intend to use it for, so before you splash the cash on something you might later regret, take a moment to reflect.

Today's camcorders are easy and fun to use

So you’ve decided that you need a new camcorder to take on a family vacation or to record a special occasion. You know roughly how much you can spend and chances are you’ve decided it should be digital – but other than that you’re confused. Where do you start?

To make the whole experience slightly less painful for you we’ve decided to try and summarise the kind of response elicited by such a question right here.

Why do you need a camcorder?

Knowing what it is that you’re likely to use a camcorder for is quite an important consideration, as you’ll discover. If the need is simply to record the kids on a beach, opening presents at family or holiday celebrations, and so on, with the result that the camcorder is subsequently hooked up to the TV in order for family and friends to view what you’ve recorded, then you don’t need anything sophisticated. However, if you’re looking for equipment that will satisfy semi-professional, or even professional, aspirations then you’ll need to consider a more complex model.

Different types of camcorder

In an attempt to avoid all un-necessary jargon, let’s keep it simple. Although one camcorder looks much like another, you’ll find that there are several ways of making a recording – and each of these will have an impact on what you can do with the recordings later on. In essence, the main types of camcorder recording system are:

• Solid State (Flash) Media – saving to built-in flash memory and memory cards like SD/SDHC and Memory Stick PRO
• Hard Disk Drive – HDD, saving to non-removable hard disk drives
• Videotape Cassette – recording to digital tape, like MiniDV (“DV”) and HDV (high definition tape)
• DVD disc – uses recordable and re-writeable DVD discs for playing in a home DVD player or PC

In addition to the above, it’s useful to note that different models (and systems) allow you to do different things with your camcorder. Here’s a summary of what you might look out for when considering a particular model:

• Nice handling and easy to use, even for a complete beginner!
• Sensible layout of controls and switches
• Zoom lens – a 10x magnification lens is more useful than 800x digital zoom
• Manual controls of focus, exposure and white balance
• Nice bright LCD screen and easy-to-navigate menu system
• Good signal connection options, such as DV and AV inputs / outputs
• CCD – the imaging chip that generates the image in the camera. The smaller the CCD (eg: 1/6th inch) or CMOS-chip (a newer alternative to the CCD) the less general image quality will be produced. Three CCDs are better than one, too, but come at a premium.

It might be that you have some more advanced requirements, so consider these additional features and facilities as well:

• Digital Stills Pictures – snap pictures and save to a card in the same unit for later downloading to a computer via USB cable
• Digital signal input – re-record video digitally on tape or disc in the camcorder using FireWire or USB 2.0 cable as a backup of an edited project or to give to somebody else
• Microphone input – obtain better sound quality through the use of an independent microphone placed either on the camcorder’s accessory shoe or on the end of a cable
• Headphone output – this is very useful even when using the built-in mic, but essential when recording using external microphones

Advantages of using one recording format over another

Each of the types of camcorder referred to above has a direct impact on not only how you go about your recording, but it also governs what you can do with the recorded material once you have it on tape or disc.

MiniDV tape

If you decide to buy a DV (also referred to as MiniDV and DVC) camcorder, you’ll be making a high-quality digital video tape recording with a maximum duration of 80 minutes at SP (Standard-Play) speed or approx. 100 minutes at LP (not always a good idea to use the latter, though).Tape contents must be transferred in real-time from camcorder to computer or to DVD recorder, and it’s not as quick or easy to make DVD copies if nice attractive menu navigation systems. The high-definition variant of DV is HDV, which uses tape cassettes in the same physical form and produces images that are compatible with HDTV displays. However, like MiniDV, HDV is a format that is now all but obsolete in the consumer domain even if it is used in professional environments.

Recordable DVD

For a relatively short period of time, DVD camcorders were popular for the simple reason that it’s easy to pop the recorded disc into our domestic DVD player and view  recordings. DVD camcorder use smaller (8cm) discs than the ones used normally, but all players can accept them. DVD uses a form of compression called MPEG-2 to compact the recording into the restricted volume of space on the DVD disk, and this means that later editing isn’t as easy as it is with DV tape. Camcorders that record to DVD disc are now quite rare, withe the main brand manufacturers now having concentrated on the introduction of models that record to hard disc or – more commonly – solid-state memory cards and internal flash memory.

HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

Tape has now given way to HDD and solid-state recording

Camcorders that use neither tape nor removeable discs (like DV or DVD) have the lion’s share of the market (2006), but HDD camcorders that save their video clips and also digital stills to high-capacity hard disks in the camera are gaining ground fast. Current models are limited to JVC, with its Everio G HDD range, and Sony, with its DCR-SR range respectively, are the two main contenders. HDD camcorders use the same type of compressed recording system as DVD. Although accurate video editing isn’t as easy as it is with DV (due to the complex manner in which the MPEG-2 sequence of images is constructed), a computer will see the camera’s HDD as being a USB 2.0 Mass Storage Device on a USB connection, so it’s as easy to copy files across as it is to copy images. JVC has a DVD disc-making station called the Everio Share Station which makes it easy to produce DVDs from selected files on the camcorder’s internal HDD.

Solid State (Flash Memory Media) Camcorders

Camcorders that write their clips to, and read from, solid-state media like built-in “flash” media and memory cards now dominate the camcorder market.

These models use Flash Memory chips, either built-in to the camera or using memory cards, to save MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video clips to a high-capacity card much like those that are used in your digital stills camera, only they can hold much more information and can write/read data much more quickly.

Capacities of memory cards and built-in memory have increased to the point where it’s possible to save several hours of high definition and standard definition video recordings or tens of thousands of images. The most popular memory card format is SD (Secure Digital); high definition recordings require high capacity SDHC cards, which give us up to 32 Gigabytes of storage.

Panasonic HDC-TM350 - offering a choice of built-in memory and SDHC card recording and playback

Camcorders – like the Panasonic HDC-TM350 – offer a choice of recording and playing back to/from SDHC cards or built-in memory whilst offering the added capability of copying clips individually or in groups from one medium to the other.

A note about High Definition

As sales of HD TV displays increases rapidly, it’s reasonable to assume that camcorder users should be seeking to record their home movies in high definition as well. As such, two main HD formats have evolved:

HDV

HDV is a tape-based format that records 1440 x 1080 resolution high definition pictures and sound using tapes physically the same as those used for MiniDV. Several HDV camcorders also enable the recording and playback of regular MiniDV (standard definition video) recordings as well, providing a convenient “backwards-compatible” playback of older recordings. Recordings can be transferred to a suitably-equipped computer (Windows or Apple Mac) using FireWire.  HDV is, however, a format whose user base is now limited to professional or semi-professional applications; there are few (if any) models available in the consumer market any more.

AVCHD

This format took hold during 2007 and now dominates the HD camcorder market and will for the foreseeable future. AVCHD uses the extremely efficient MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression system that is designed to enable writing of full-specification HD to solid-state memory cards (such as SDHC), memory Sticks, Hard Disc Drives and – increasingly – to built-in flash memory inside the camcorder. AVCHD camcorders now account for the vast majority of HD releases from Panasonic, Canon, JVC and Sony. If you want high definition as well as the convenience of solid-state recording, choose AVCHD.

Conclusion – What we recommend

If you’re looking for a camcorder that fulfils all the basic recording and playback requirements for use within a general family or social context and whose clips aren’t intended to be edited beyond simple top-and-tailing of clips, adding simple titles, etc., then a camcorder that uses built-in memory and/or SDHC memory card is your best bet. It’s also the easiest to use.

With USB, you can move the clip files into a computer (often using software supplied for use with either Windows XP, Apple Mac or both) from where tidy-up editing can take place and any number of full-size DVDs can be made. Using a compatible memory card reader, you can copy clips stored on the card to the computer, if you prefer. The process is the same as that for copying and archiving digital photos from your camera.

Another important note: invest in high definition now! The AVCHD format is now the predominant HD camcorder format, and for good reason; it produces superb quality HD video recordings that use high-capacity flash memory storage. Moreover, AVCHD is the best chance you have of recording video clips that have a chance of being “future proof” – at least for a few years! Why shoot standard definition video clips in an increasingly high definition world?

Written by Colin Barrett. Revised Dec 2009.