Calling All Cams: Buyer's Guide

Whether you are shopping for a new camcorder, or just want to understand the differences between all the different formats, you may be overwhelmed by the vast array of letters and numbers: VHS, Hi8, Mini DV, S-VHS-C, etc. This article will help you understand the similarities and differences between the various camcorder formats, so you can select the model that's right for you. To make the story easier to follow, we've divided our camcorder guide into three sections: standard grade analog formats, high grade analog formats and digital formats.

Standard Grade Analog Formats

The oldest format still around is VHS. VHS beat the technically-superior Betamax (or Beta) format by simply out-marketing Sony, the folks who invented Beta. VHS is the parent format to three others you'll see in our list: VHS-C, S-VHS and S-VHS-C.

VHS, and its entire offspring, use 1/2-inch-wide videotapes. VHS has a linear audio track that can be split in half to allow stereo recording, albeit with very little fidelity. But for good audio, VHS hi-fi, a system of depth-multiplexing FM signals under the video signal, is the only way to go.

VHS has many advantages. Just about everyone has a VHS VCR, so if you're out shooting, you can play back your footage almost anywhere (although you'll need an adapter for VHS-C tapes). Also, tapes are cheap, with decent quality T-120s (allowing two hours of recording time) sold for as cheap as 10 for $10. While its image is not too sharp (max. of 240 horizontal lines of resolution), VHS produces a picture that is so ubiquitous that for most people it is what a videotaped image is supposed to look like. (See Resolving to Understand Resolution sidebar.)

A drawback to shooting onto VHS is simply the size of the cassettes, and therefore the size of the camcorders. VHS camcorders, such as the two from Panasonic, are huge in size when compared with camcorders of smaller formats. Bigger camcorders mean more weight, which means more work to get your footage shot. On the other hand, these heavier, shoulder-mounted camcorders tend to capture steadier shots than the hand-held varieties.

Answering the VHS cassette-size issue, JVC came out with Compact VHS, or VHS-C. These smaller cassettes use the same 1/2-inch tape that full-size VHS cassettes use, and record the same signal. In fact, you can take a VHS-C cassette, put it into an adapter and play it on a standard VHS deck. VHS-C is the same as VHS, just in a smaller package.

Because the cassette is smaller, the reels of tape are smaller, too. Smaller reels of tape mean shorter record times, with a maximum of 30 minutes per cassette. VHS-C's biggest disadvantage, other than the same poor image quality that plagues full-size VHS, is the short record time. But that short record time means a much smaller camcorder; that's the trade-off. A few companies are still making VHS-C camcorders for less than $500, including the RCA CC6374 for $449.

After Sony lost the Beta-VHS war, the company re-entered the market with 8mm video, a system that uses roughly 1/4-inch tape in cassettes about the size of an audio cassette, to record images of a quality perhaps slightly superior to that of VHS. In the past, many flocked to this format because of the small size of the camcorders it engendered. Today, however, the format is losing market share as the throngs of buyers flock instead to DV. There are very few 8mm cameras still on the market. The only one in this guide is the Sharp VL-A110U.

With 8mm cassettes dropping in price (now around $4 for the 60-minute or $5 for the 120-minute cassette), people with 8mm camcorders might shoot more than people with ?-inch tape format camcorders. People with 8mm camcorders typically will edit to their VHS deck, so the incompatible tape format is not an issue.

High Grade Analog Formats