MiniDV has dominated the camcorder market for over a decade, but that stronghold is beginning to weaken. Flash memory camcorders, hard disk camcorders, and optical media camcorders are all aiming to take MiniDV’s place as the king of the camcorder. New small and feature rich flash camcorders provide strong competition for MiniDV camcorders. Still, MiniDV is not dead yet, so which one should you buy?

The Sony HDR-CX12 High Definition Memory Stick PRO Duo Handycam Camcorder is a great innovation over its predecessor Sony HDR-CX7. Built with class and style, the HDR-CX12 from Sony boasts of high-end CMOS sensor (1/3-inch), and up to 16Mbps bit rate, which is better than the Sony HDR-CX7, but still lower than the 24Mbs on Canon’s HF S10 and HF S100. It has 12X Optical Zoom / 150X Digital Zoom which is more powerful than other Sony Camcorders, but about average for it’s class.

The Samsung HMX – R10 High Definition Flash Memory Camcorder sports a one of a kind 8x full optical HD lens. It is equipped with 1920 x1080 Full HD recording, so videos show vivid and clear on a HD Television. This handy Flash Camcorder can capture 2- mega pixel still photos while shooting a video. On the video aspect, this camcorder comes handy with its incredible light sensitivity which can capture a full HD video with its 1920x 1080 resolution. Its 1/2.33″ CMOS imaging sensor produces 9-megapixel resolution for still digital photos. However, …

We’ve reviewed a lot of flash memory camcorders, and generally we think flash camcorders are the best of breed of the digital camcorders. They are smaller, lighter, less power hungary, and more reliable, but one thing we’ve never liked about them is the limited video storage. As the recording quality has skyrocketed up to 1080p @ 60 frames per second, the amount of storage space needed to operate one of these camcorders rapidly exceeds the current size of flash memory cards. And even more disturbing is the high performance memory cards needed to record at that quality are VERY expensive. One of our editors stumbled upon the MoFoto Portable Video Storage Device, and we realized that it would be a great companion to the flash camcorders we like so much.

Portable video storage devices generally fall into two categories: very basic & very feature rich.  Selecting the right device for you depends on how you intend to use the device.  Feature rich devices such as the Epson P-7000 support viewing JPEGs, RAW images, and even standard definition video.  The basic devices, such as the MoFoto, are little more than a hard disk with a memory card reader on it.  If you just want a really big hard drive to store your videos, then the basic devices are a good fit …