What to look for in a Mini-HD camcorder

By | November 2, 2009, 5:02am PST

Summary: Flip tends to get most of the attention when it comes to mini-HD camcorders, but there are more things to pay attention to besides name brand. Here are five things you should consider when purchasing a new Mini-HD camcorder: 1. Quality: Look for resolution and color quality. It should capture between 720 and 1080p HD video. [...]

Flip tends to get most of the attention when it comes to mini-HD camcorders, but there are more things to pay attention to besides name brand. Here are five things you should consider when purchasing a new Mini-HD camcorder:

1. Quality: Look for resolution and color quality. It should capture between 720 and 1080p HD video. Also keep in mind what kind of angle you want. The Creative Vado HD has a very wide-angle lens compared to other models.

2. Storage Space: A lot of camcorders will have built-in flash memory. The Vado and the Flip UltraHD, for example, has 8 GB, while the Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera only has 128 MB. This may seem like a huge problem, but actually, it has a SD Memory Card slot, which allows the videographer as much space as he or she needs/chooses. This can be incredibly helpful if you plan on shooting a lot of video, but won’t have the opportunity to transfer files back to your computer as often.

3. Ease of File Transfers: Most of these camcorders are built to be extremely user-friendly. Usually you can just plug a USB into your camcorder and your computer, and it can go straight to YouTube. But, be SURE to check that the camcorder can transfer files to your computer. Even if they transfer via USB, a lot of devices come with their own transfer and editing software, and not all of them are compatible with both Macs and PCs.

4. Price: A $200 Mini-HD camcorder is never going to shoot the kind of quality video that a regular flash or hard drive-based HD camcorder would. But for a couple hundred bucks, it’s quite a deal. But you really shouldn’t be spending more than that (not including shipping and sales tax).

5. Reviews: Name-brands aren’t everything. Flip might be the most well-known right now, but that doesn’t mean the UltraHD is the best for you, nor preferred the most by consumers. You can easily read reviews of most camcorders here on ZDNet by plugging the name of the product in the search field at the top of the page, select “Reviews” in the drop-down menu and click on the magnifying glass icon.

What else do you look for when searching for a Mini-HD?

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Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Rachel started playing with her mother's old Brownie camera when she was just a toddler, working her way up from a Hello Kitty point-and-shoot to training on both film and digital SLRs.

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RE: What to look for in a Mini-HD camcorder
three-shao 19th Sep
@dstrom Happy digesting and then thank you. happy UGG boots classic mini
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Couple of things
dstrom 2nd Nov 2009
I have a Memorex small HD camcorder, looks similar to the Flip, bought cheap & works OK.

2 annoyances: first, the digital "zoom" can't change while it is recording -- i.e., you have to set the zoom while NOT recording, then hit the record button. Not sure how common this is.

2nd, is the format of the videos: avi files, I think it's h.264 encoding; anyway, I sent some soccer videos of my son to grandparents on a CD, and their nice Windows XP systems cannot play the videos back by default - had to have them download Windows Media Player Classic (XP bundle at codecs.com) for them to see the videos.

--
Dave

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@dstrom Happy digesting and then thank you. happy UGG boots classic mini
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More details?
alokgovil 2nd Nov 2009
In what ways mini-HD ones are inferior to regular ones? I have Canon HF100 and have not been pleased with its low-light performance, even thought it was once amongst the best rated ones at camcorderinfo.

Low-light performance is my number one requirement. Which mini-HD does the nest on that?
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also . . . ac/dc adapter
hansonjb 2nd Nov 2009
does it have an ac/dc adapter to plug into the wall?
--we record long videos with the cameras. you need a power plug.

also, a few of the cameras won't stand up when set down. not a goodie.
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Webcam
ShadowT 2nd Nov 2009
Webcam support is a great option. Also the ability to mount to a tri-pod.
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You left out optical zoom.
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you forgot steadycam >the anti shake device

built in light souce,

viewfinder and /or view screen sizeand ease of use

ease of purchasing extras like batteries,

range of accessories available lens adaptors etc

and a whole host more things like functions
usefullness

whilst not neccessarily the most important to everyone the tech specs and how closley the product relates to them are really the most important thing when deciding on what camera, closley folowed by price then looks

and if it didnt have at least a 10x optical zoom i wouldnt bother getting it since my 12megapixel digital camera does and it takes videos as well.
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You should care to know the file format of your recording downloads, if you want to watch them on other devices than the recording machine. Another issue is the storage capacity and whether your machine works with which SD-RAM-disks - I have one that is supposed to service 8 GB discs and refused to show more than 4 GB in capacity.
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Well I can only hope to see Rachel King in mini-HD, & I don't
mean it in a perverted way.
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That way you get two GOOD cameras in one. Then again, you will spend a LOT more than $200. happy Ok, so maybe these pocket HD cameras do have their place.
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I really wouldn't look for anything in a dedicated Mini-HD camcorder. My wife has a Canon Powershot SD780 IS (purchased for $240 at Best Buy) and it does 720p HD movies at 30fps as well as 12mp images with 3x optical zoom on SDHC cards. It's great for both photos and HD video. And, suprise, it has a tripod mount. At that price, I couldn't see wanting any of these Flip things.
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The market for video recording devices is getting crowded as all sorts of product categories start to crowd into each other. Current options for HD video:

1. One of the mini HD camcorders mentioned in this article.

2. A point-and-shoot still camera with video.

3. A full-sized HD camcorder. These used to be available with tape or DVD recording but flash is taking over.

4. A D-SLR with video capability.

Right now at least, #1 and #2 are reasonably direct competitors in price, as are #3 and #4. If you're choosing between 1 and 2, the question is whether you go for a video-centric device with perhaps some still capability, or a still-centric device with some video. Each choice gets you a different form factor and perhaps a different mix of features.

Eventually these categories will all converge into a spectrum of picture recording devices. Everything will have some still and some video capability, and you'll choose based on price, features, size, weight, and personal preference. Right now, the niche for these mini video recorders is at the under-$200 price point; once you're looking to spend significantly more you'll want to look at the other product categories.
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Looking to connect with social media and the Web 2.0 world will be especially interested in
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