by Daniel J. Gansle

Created on: December 24, 2008

For decades, video camcorders have been a very popular way to preserve family memories and to have a little fun at the same time. While the camcorders of yesteryear started out with reels of film, they've gone through many stages of evolution from Betamax to VHS to DVDs to all-digital.

Today's digital revolution is taking camcorders in a completely new direction: high definition (HD), a new standard based on 1080p (i.e., 1,080 lines of vertical resolution, progressive scan) screen resolution technology. While HD digital camcorders are emerging in the marketplace, we see another contender: Blu-ray camcorders, or camcorders that record video to a Blu-ray disc. In this article, we'll take a close look at these new tech gadgets and whether they're right for you.

What Is Blu-ray?
Blu-ray is the industry standard in 1080p high definition, high capacity video. Blue-ray gets its name from the blue-violet laser it uses to read Blu-ray discs rather than the red laser in DVD players.

Blu-ray Disc Industry Standards
Like DVDs, Blu-ray discs are sold as rewritable (BD-RE) or write-once (BD-R). Blu-ray discs are also far greater in terms of data capacity, storing up to five times more digital content on a single side than a standard DVD. You can purchase either single-layer or dual-layer Blu-ray discs; the latter doubling your digital content storage capacity. Dual-layer Blu-ray discs are generally sold as 50 gigabyte (GB) dual-layer, or 25GB single layer. Data transfer speed varies from 1x, 2x or 4x (4x being the fastest).

Is a Blu-ray Camcorder Right For You?
In looking at Blu-ray camcorders, the first thing you will find as with any new technology is a steep sticker price. You will get a quality high definition camcorder that can deliver staggering pictures and clear sound; great for intermediate videographers and photags, but will probably go largely unnoticed by the amateur home video enthusiast simply looking to preserve a few memories or to post videos of them and their friends on the internet.

So should you buy a pricey Blu-ray camcorder, or should you consider a less expensive option such as a pocket HD camcorder?

If picture quality, sound quality, and the ability to record directly to a Blu-ray disc is important to you, you should absolutely consider a Blu-ray camcorder. With a Blu-ray camcorder, you can record up to 60 minutes of high definition video on a one-sided Blu-ray disc. You can immediately pop the disc into your Blu-ray player and view those crystal-clear HD images.

At the same time, popular pocket HD camcorders such as the Flip Mino also record up to 60 minutes of high definition video, require only a USB port to download movies to your computer or HDTV, and are significantly less expensive. So in reality, the choice boils down to the same choice as the digital camcorder or DVD camcorder; only this time in high definition.

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