I'm Sarah Goralski, camcorder expert at Consumer Reports, and I'll be giving you buying advice today.

You want a camcorder if you want to make sure you take very good video with your cell phone or digital camera. Those devices can only take much lower quality video compared to camcorders. Camcorders do it best.

What's the difference in camcorders between say a high definition and a standard definition? Standard def camcorders are lower in quality compared to high-definition. High-definition is much greater in detail and picture quality. That's right, now that's the biggest difference is picture quality between the two categories.

So how do I pick a camcorder that's going to have the features that I want and be able to do what it is I like it to do? We have a great selection of camcorders in our ratings with many features that may meet your needs. For instance, this flash based camcorder is lightweight, compact, as fewer features however as you can see it'll be easy to carry on your trip in your pocket and it's not going to be too much of a burden if you're going away on vacation.

Maybe you want to bring a hard drive camcorder and record many hours of footage while you're going around the world, and it's very convenient. It's a little more expensive but it has some very good features and qualities perhaps even better optics than the smaller less expensive models. Then we have mini DV camcorders, and if you're someone who cares about frame accurate video editing mini DV camcorder may work best for you.

It's also relatively inexpensive and the tape pulls an hour of video. So if I'm going to be using my camcorder for scenes or in places where the light is low, what do I need to look for? Well this is an area of difficulty for most camcorders. Our tests reveal that they are challenged in low-light conditions especially that you may experience in birthdays and weddings unless you're going to change settings to improve low-light video performance in auto mode.

Most camcorders don't do very well when you use your camcorder for uploading it or sharing it on the web. What do you need to look for when you're buying one? Well for sharing on the web, instance standard definition video works best. It's much smaller file to download to your computer and it's going to be reduced in quality for sharing. In fact some camcorders have a convenience button like the Sony right here allows you to press a button and burn it to DVD on your computer.

Other camcorders actually have a button that allow you to upload to sites like YouTube. I see many different recording formats here, what's the difference? Yeah there is a big difference. We've got tape-based camcords mini DV in this case that can record both standard def and high def video. This is a format that is inexpensive and for standard definition it's an inexpensive choice for buying a camcorder if you're on a budget.

The other format that is very familiar folks is DVD, if you've got a DVD camcorder if its standard definition you can play the video back in your DVD player if it's high definition DVD then it'll play in a blu-ray player. If you buy a hard drive camcorder it's very much like your computer the hard drive is in the camcorder and it can store the video many hours of video in it again you can transfer the content to your computer burn it to DVD or blu-ray to share with your friends.

Finally there's flash based camcorders that use a memory card and it can store depending on the size of the card an hour or more of video which can be easily transferred to your computer and in some cases easily uploaded two sites net social networking sites like YouTube for more information on camcords check out our ratings. I'm Sara Goralski for Consumer Reports

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi I'm Sarah Goralski camcorders unlike other electronics have gotten more rather than less complicated so I'm here today with Elias arias our camcorder expert who's going to give us buying advice so many things today can take video your cell phone your digital camera what do you need a camcorder for you want a camcorder if you want to make sure you take very good video your cell phone your digital camera those devices take much much lower quality video camcorders do it best what's the difference in camcorders between say a high definition and a standard definition standard def camcorders are lower in quality compared to high-definition high-definition being much greater in detail and picture quality that's right now that's the biggest difference is picture quality between the two categories so how do i pick a camcorder that's going to have the features that i want and be able to do what it is i like it to do we have a great selection of camcorders in our ratings with many features that may meet your needs for instance this flash based camcorder is lightweight compact as fewer features however as you can see it'll be easy to carry on your trip in your pocket and it's not going to be too much of a burden if you're going away on vacation maybe you want to bring a hard drive camcorder and record many hours of footage while you're going around the world and it's very convenient it's a little more expensive but it has some very good features and qualities perhaps even better optics than the smaller less expensive models then we have mini DV camcorders and if you're someone who cares about frame accurate video editing mini DV camcorder may work best for you it's also relatively inexpensive and the tape pulls an hour of video so if i'm going to be using my camcorder for scenes or in places where the light is low what do i need to look for well this is an area of difficulty for most camcorders our tests reveal that they are challenged in low-light conditions especially that you may experience in birthdays and weddings unless you're going to change settings to improve low-light video performance in auto mode most camcorders don't do very well when you use your camcorder for uploading it or sharing it on the web what do you need to look for when you're buying one well for sharing on the web for instance standard definition video works best it's much smaller file to download to your computer and it's going to be reduced in quality for sharing in fact some camcorders have a have a convenience button like the Sony right here allows you to press a button and burn it to DVD on your computer other camcorders actually have a button that allow you to upload to sites like YouTube I see many different recording formats here what's the difference yeah there is a big difference we've got tape-based camcorders mini DV in this case that can record both standard def and high def video and this is a format that is inexpensive and for standard definition it's an inexpensive choice for buying a camcorder if you're on a budget the other format that is very familiar folks is DVD if you've got a DVD camcorder if its standard definition you can play the video back in your DVD player if it's high definition DVD then it'll play in a blu-ray player if you buy a hard drive camcorder it's very much like your computer the hard drive is in the camcorder and it can store the video many hours of video in it again you can transfer the content to your computer burn it to DVD or blu-ray to share with your friends and finally there's flash based camcorders that use a memory card and it can store depending on the size of the card an hour or more of video which can be easily transferred to your computer and in some cases easily uploaded two sites net social networking sites like YouTube for more information on camcorders check out our ratings I'm Sara Goralski for Consumer Reports youhi I'm Sarah Goralski camcorders unlike other electronics have gotten more rather than less complicated so I'm here today with Elias arias our camcorder expert who's going to give us buying advice so many things today can take video your cell phone your digital camera what do you need a camcorder for you want a camcorder if you want to make sure you take very good video your cell phone your digital camera those devices take much much lower quality video camcorders do it best what's the difference in camcorders between say a high definition and a standard definition standard def camcorders are lower in quality compared to high-definition high-definition being much greater in detail and picture quality that's right now that's the biggest difference is picture quality between the two categories so how do i pick a camcorder that's going to have the features that i want and be able to do what it is i like it to do we have a great selection of camcorders in our ratings with many features that may meet your needs for instance this flash based camcorder is lightweight compact as fewer features however as you can see it'll be easy to carry on your trip in your pocket and it's not going to be too much of a burden if you're going away on vacation maybe you want to bring a hard drive camcorder and record many hours of footage while you're going around the world and it's very convenient it's a little more expensive but it has some very good features and qualities perhaps even better optics than the smaller less expensive models then we have mini DV camcorders and if you're someone who cares about frame accurate video editing mini DV camcorder may work best for you it's also relatively inexpensive and the tape pulls an hour of video so if i'm going to be using my camcorder for scenes or in places where the light is low what do i need to look for well this is an area of difficulty for most camcorders our tests reveal that they are challenged in low-light conditions especially that you may experience in birthdays and weddings unless you're going to change settings to improve low-light video performance in auto mode most camcorders don't do very well when you use your camcorder for uploading it or sharing it on the web what do you need to look for when you're buying one well for sharing on the web for instance standard definition video works best it's much smaller file to download to your computer and it's going to be reduced in quality for sharing in fact some camcorders have a have a convenience button like the Sony right here allows you to press a button and burn it to DVD on your computer other camcorders actually have a button that allow you to upload to sites like YouTube I see many different recording formats here what's the difference yeah there is a big difference we've got tape-based camcorders mini DV in this case that can record both standard def and high def video and this is a format that is inexpensive and for standard definition it's an inexpensive choice for buying a camcorder if you're on a budget the other format that is very familiar folks is DVD if you've got a DVD camcorder if its standard definition you can play the video back in your DVD player if it's high definition DVD then it'll play in a blu-ray player if you buy a hard drive camcorder it's very much like your computer the hard drive is in the camcorder and it can store the video many hours of video in it again you can transfer the content to your computer burn it to DVD or blu-ray to share with your friends and finally there's flash based camcorders that use a memory card and it can store depending on the size of the card an hour or more of video which can be easily transferred to your computer and in some cases easily uploaded two sites net social networking sites like YouTube for more information on camcorders check out our ratings I'm Sara Goralski for Consumer Reports you\n"