Top Ten Ranked Mini DVD Camcorders

Mini DVD camcorders are very popular and convenient for consumers who want to capture life and details on camera. It’s important to have a really good system for archiving important family events such as weddings, birthday parties and your home inventory (in the event of fire, flood or other natural catastrophe. Mini DVD camcorders are rated by feature and price.


Mini DVD, also known as: MiniDVD, miniDVD or cDVD are 80mm versions of the standard 120mm DVD Media. 3-inch DVDs and a single-sided mini DVD-R has the capacity to hold 30 minutes of recording time (1.4GB of data) in standard DVD quality recording or 120 minutes of video in SLP mode. Another option is the double-sided mini DVD-R media, and has the capacity of holding a full hour of recording time (2.92GB of data).


Though this recording media was developed for use in regular sized camcorders, consumers now have the luxury to record video or data directly inside the camcorder. This saves valuable production time over transferring video or photos onto a computer and then burning a copy Digital Versatile Disc (DVD). Although smaller in size, a mini DVD disk is able to play in most DVD players. The DVD is an ideal medium for a broad range of mobile storage applications such as digital audio, video, still images, graphics, business presentations, internet downloads or just data sharing.


The number one rated mini DVD camcorder is the Canon HV30. It is the newest model for the much celebrated HV20. The upgrades to the HV20 include a 30fps frame mode (in addition to 24p and 60i), an improved zoom toggle, as well as an enhanced LCD display. Canon determined that tape-based (HDV) high definition camcorders were going out of technology style. HDD and solid state memory were quickly taking precedence. The top six mini DVD camcorders are all products of Canon. The Samsung SC-HMX20 ranks at number seven. The new SC-HMX20 is actually larger than its forerunner, but not by much. It preserved its ultra-stylish appearance, and very handy swivel grip on the hand strap. Inside, however, Samsung gave no-holds-barred since. The SC-HMX20 features a huge 1/1.8-inch CMOS sensor. The performance boost is nothing short of colossal, particularly in low light. An added plus is that the SC-HMX20 is incredibly simple to use, making it a great choice for first time mini DVD camcorder users and owners. It’s no great disappointment that it does not have all the bells and whistles of its competitors, but this camcorder is certainly worth your time.


Sony has three mini DVD camcorders that come into the top ten list at numbers eight, nine and ten. The HDR-SR12 is Sony’s third generation AVCHD camcorder recording to hard disk drive (HDD). The SR12 features a new CMOS sensor and DSP flaunted by Sony to be the best available, along with a massive 120GB capacity. It is joined by the HDR-SR11 ($1,199 MSRP), an identical camcorder with a smaller 60GB HDD. In all previous models, the AVCHD camcorders have failed to live up to performance expectations, but that’s no longer true for 2008. The Canon HF10 gave outstanding performance, sharpness and clarity. So how does the Sony HDR-SR12 hold up to the competition? I believe the correct word is “strongly”. This is undoubtedly the sensor/processor package to own, especially if you’re a Sony fan as I am. I would say the low light performance is exceptional and superior in noise reduction when compared to the Sony HDR-HC9 and is comparable to the Canon HF10 in1080/60i. That being said, the overall sharpness is not as good as the Canon HF10 in bright light, I would like to mention that Canon’s inclusion of multiple frame rates (60i/24P/30P) makes it a much more tempting piece of digital equipment. Though the manual control packages are evenly matched, Sony wins hands down on capacity, while Canon wins soley on portability. http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php