I know I’ve done it at least once. I know some people who’ve done it a couple of times. You never know when the urge is going to sweep you away, but for some reason this time of year the pressure is more pervasive, the cravings are more concentrated, the temptation is too, well tempting.

You know what I’m talking about. Every year countless holiday shoppers give in, especially those envisioning their little ones, wide-eyed and glowing in the Christmas tree lights as the results of Santa’s labors are revealed.

That’s right. I’m talking about the last-minute, impulsive video camcorder buyer. You know who you are. If you think you might be susceptible to this malady for the first time, or know that you’re well on your way to becoming a repeat offender, here’s a quick rap sheet on the ins and outs of buying a video camcorder.

In today’s market there are four variations on the camcorder theme. They all have their pros and cons, but, depending on your goals as a fledgling cinematographer, some have more cons than others.

Before continuing, let me caution you that there are still non-digital-video camcorders out there for sale using media formats like “Hi-8” and “VHS-C”. They’ll be dirt cheap, but they’re the camcorder equivalents of an eight-track tape recorder. Steer clear.

The first variant is the MiniDV camcorder. Relatively inexpensive and easy to use, MiniDV cameras record up to 90 minutes of video on re-recordable small digital tape cassettes (about $4 each). You might think that 90 minutes is not very long, but its actually an eternity when shooting video, even if the stars of the video are your prides and joys. MiniDV camcorders are great for fledgling Spielbergs who want to use their computers to edit their masterpieces and distribute them on DVD, as the uncompressed DV video format is easily captured and manipulated by computer movie editing and DVD-creation software.

The second variant, seemingly gaining more popularity these days, is the MiniDVD camcorder. Instead of using a tape, these camcorders use re-recordable mini DVD disks (30 minutes of video for around $5).

Instant gratification is the big lure of MiniDVD. Once done shooting, you can do some cursory on-camera editing and then pop the MiniDVD disk into just about any commercial tray-loading DVD player and watch your epic unfold. However, if you want to edit your video on a computer, MiniDVD poses some real problems. The “raw” video from the camera must be converted and compressed in order to be recorded onto the DVD, which reduces the quality somewhat. Getting the video off the DVD and onto your computer and into a format you can edit will require more software, time, and effort than you may enjoy.

The third variant is the hard drive based camcorder, sometimes bearing an “HDD” label on the case. Current HDD camcorders sport up to 30 GB hard drives. Some advertise holding as much as 20 hours of video, but in order to get that much video on a 30 GB drive, the camera must compress and reformat the video, similar to the MiniDVD, causing the same type problems if you want to export and edit video on your computer.

Fourthly, prices on consumer-level High Definition (HDV) camcorders have dropped to around $1300. The video is gorgeous, with four times the resolution of MiniDV. Higher definition means more computing horsepower (memory and processor speed) required to manipulate and edit, which may be beyond the capabilities of your computer. Unless, of course, you have a relatively new Mac, which is always my recommended first step in becoming a home video auteur.

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski