JR Lang asked:


The word camcorder comes from combining the two words, camera and recorder. How a camcorder works is by recording audio and video and then saving those to a storage device, there by creating your own movies/videos and capturing life on video.

Earlier models of camcorders only used analog and recorded to VHS videotapes, and they were so big and bulky that they had to be carted around on a trolley. These camcorders were mostly used by professionals for broadcasting via television. But those days are over. With the advance of technology came digital and with digital came the digital camcorder.

Today digital camcorders are available in small hand held devices that allow everyone to record and make video recordings, and they are quickly making their way to more and more homes, where families use them to capture their lives on film.

To understand how camcorders work is to look at the three components that they are comprised of: Lens, Imager and Recorder.

The lens of a camcorder is the light path of the camera that consists of a number of adjustments where the camcorder works to allow the user to capture pictures and videos exactly as desired.

These adjustments include parts like aperture, which allows one to control and adjust the light. The zoom function, that is used to adjust the field-view area covered by the lens. And the shutter speed that helps capture any form of motion.

The imager, which is the camcorders eye, works by housing the photosensitive devices. This is how camcorders work to develop the electronic video signal from the light captured in quite a complex electronic process.

How camcorders work for recording is the recorder, which, provides complex signaling functions that capture the video signals and transfers them to the recording medium, such as DVD. The recording and storage device is an important feature to the usability of camcorders.

Camcorders display the recorded images via the magnificent flat LCD screen feature that comes with most camcorders today. These screens can be rotated about 290 degrees along the vertical line, and horizontally about 90 degrees. These screens have made digital camcorders very popular by consumers since the recording process becomes so easy and fun when you are able to see what is being recorded on the LCD screen in real time.

One of the most popular camcorders today is the DVD type, which can replay video on a home DVD player via the digital camcorders recording and hence burning directly to DVD.

The convenience of recording directly to the high-resolution DVD format is incomparable. Also, instant access to any scene eliminates the time and hassle of fast-forwarding and rewinding, as with tape formats. These camcorders work by allowing the DVD format to save memories securely in high-resolution. Also it is important to note that the DVD type camcorders LCD displays a list of the recorded scenes for quick, easy searching.

DVD camcorders provide superb recording quality by digitally recording to a DVD disc and not on tape. Another benefit of recording with a DVD camcorder is its flexibility. You can use your camera to record at home, use it as a storage medium, or in the office connected to your PC. Images recorded onto DVD-RAM or DVD-R discs can also be played on a DVD recorder or DVD player, so you don’t have to hook the camcorder up to a TV to watch your recordings.

There are two versions of DVD digital camcorders: one that works with rewritable DVD-RAM/R discs requiring a DVD player with RAM playback or a PC with a DVD-RAM drive, and the second works by using the more popular DVD-R/RW discs that work with most ordinary DVD players.

There are several other recording and writing formats available in digital camcorders. MiniMV, MicroMV, HDD, HDV, Digital 8, VHS and Flash Memory Drive.

Camcorders are wireless and they work by getting their electricity source from special batteries. Generally different models of camcorders have different battery capacity which allow for varying amount of recording time on a fully charged battery. The two most common rechargeable batteries are the NiCd and the Lithium Ion. The lithiums are usually preferred because they take a charge quicker, are lighter than others and have a longer life span. Most full charges give a battery 6 hours of life.

Today digital camcorders are commonplace. They can be seen used everywhere, from family picnics and birthday parties to those news headlines you see where a passer by was able to capture some extraordinary event, such as natural disaster, cops beating a suspect or videos seen on the infamous YouTube website.

Regardless of how many features you choose or how complicated the digital camcorder is, most are very user-friendly, and their popularity is mainly centered in how digital camcorders provide a user-friendly video recording experience for anyone.

Digital camcorders come with various price tags from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the features of the device, the clarity of sound and video quality provided, and the company manufacturing it. In todays world with the Internet providing a stage where millions of sellers and merchants compete for your business it is easy to save significant amounts of money by avoiding retail merchants and purchasing discount digital camcorders.



JR Lang asked:


Ten years ago the answer to the question of what are the different types of camcorders would have been Analog. Analog video cameras, which used to record to VHS videotapes, were heavy, large and bulky because they contained an entire video recorder, along with the lens and camera device and had almost no options to choose from.

As with everything else camcorders have come a long way and today with digital technology the answer to the question of what are the different types of camcorders has grown immensely. Today there is digital and digital camcorders that are advanced while being user-friendly, compact and provide a fun, easy and accessible movie making experience for anyone.

The type of a digital camcorder mainly centers around the media it utilizes and specifically around its recording capability and storage device. There are several types of camcorders and choosing the right one for you mostly depends on this feature as it affects both usability and price.

MiniDV Camcorder: The MiniDV type of camcorder is small, sleek and stylish mostly due to the fact that it uses the very small MiniDV cassettes as the storage device. The recorded video is then transfered to PC via the firewire port on the PC and downloaded. Once edited and finished you can burn the completed video onto a DVD. This is a very popular and common type of camcorder. The video and sound quality is very good.

MicroMV Camcorder: The MicroMV also uses tapes but they are are much smaller than MiniDV tapes and the MicroMV uses advanced compression technology. The Micro MV records very high quality video as well as possess the capability of full digital editing. The MicroMV is also very compact, lightweight and ultra small.

DVD Camcorder: With this type of camcorder you can record video directly to a DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD RAM.

DVD-R is a recordable DVD format with a write-once only capability. DVD-RW is a recordable DVD but it allows rewrites and so provides unlimited writing to same disk. DVD-RAM or DVD Random Access Memory is a DVD disc, which can be recorded with information, erased, and recorded again. DVD-RAM is considered a highly reliable format, as the discs have built-in error control and a defect management system. Therefore, DVD-RAM is perceived to be better than the other DVD technologies.

There are two Versions of the DVD Type Digital Camcorders: One works with rewritable DVD-RAM discs requiring a DVD player with RAM playback or a PC with a DVD-RAM drive. The other works by using the more popular DVD-RW and DVD-R (DVD-rewritable) discs that work with most ordinary DVD players and allow for actual recording of images to the DVD disk. A great feature of this recording format is the ability to edit in-camera and with repeated playbacks the disk does not degrade.

HDD Digital Camcorders: Hard Disk Drive camcorders are types that are compact and record in MPEG-2 video that are saved to an internal hard disk drive within the camcorder. The upside of this type of camcorder is the ability of storing huge amounts of video data by using compression. The video is saved to the internal hard disc within the camcorder and then downloaded to a computer and burnt onto to a DVD. The HDD camcorder has no moving parts and so there is less chance of mechanical breakdown.

Flash Media Camcorders: This formats records images to an internal Flash drive and Flash Memory cards. Flash Memory cards include, SD, Compact Flash, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Duo.

Digital 8 Camcorders: This format records digital video to Hi-8 videotapes. Digital 8 is a consumer digital videotape format developed by Sony, and introduced in 1999. Digital 8 camcorder uses the same videocassettes as analog Hi8 equipment, but differs in that the audio/video signal is encoded digitally. Picture quality is fairly good and this format allows playback of analog videotapes recorded on Hi-8 camcorders.

VHS Camcorders: These types of camcorders still records to VHS tapes but the data is recorded digitally. Picture quality is fairly good and this format allows playback of analog videotapes.

The Wonderful World of High-Def: High definition is a beautiful thing and HDV Digital Camcorders record and save data in full 1920×1080 resolution. The most expensive of the bunch, High Definition Video camcorders usually utilize MiniDV tapes or Hard Disk Drive that capture and record video. The high resolution recording provides the highest quality and clarity which provides the most magnificent video picture of any camcorder on the market today and it looks great on high definition television.

The key to choosing the right type of camcorder for you is to determine your personal use and to find a happy medium between usability and price. While price differs among the many types of camcorders one thing is true about all camcorders they are an expensive investment. An important fact to consider is that the Internet has provided a forum where millions of sellers and merchants compete for your business, and that competition provides many money saving opportunities, retail is no longer the only option and lots of money can be saved by purchasing a discount digital camcorder rather than paying retail.