DVD camcorders are a fast-growing sector in the camcorder market, with big players like Sony, Panasonic and Hitachi throwing their hats in the ring. They are gaining popularity by the day and are now available at reasonable prices.

DVD camcorders are different from regular digital video cameras, as the former record video onto three-inch size DVD discs, rather than DV tape. This procedure gives DVD camcorders a number of plus points. DVD discs are stronger than tape and unlikely to get chewed up in the camera. The disc can hold about 30 minutes of DVD-quality video. You can get more recording time by altering the recording mode, but you do that at the risk of compromising on the video quality.

Another advantage of DVD discs is random access, whereas on tape everything is recorded sequentially. So you don