The latest generation of high definition (HD) camcorders are comparatively superior in video image quality.
This was the rating shown in a Consumer Council test report on 35 digital camcorders under 6 brands - 17 of the samples are capable of high definition recording, the largest batch on HD camcorders in this series of test.
In general, HD camcorders were found to perform much better on video image quality than the conventional standard definition samples.
Of the 17 HD samples, 15 scored highly with 4 samples being awarded the top 5-point rating on video image quality, and 11 receiving 4-point rating.
By comparison, the performance of the conventional models fared rather unsatisfactorily with only one sample scoring 4 points while the rest either 3 points or below.
HD camcorders were more pricey ranging from $3,980 to $11,980 while the standard definition models were in the price range of $2,480 to $7,980.
Besides video image quality, the test conducted by the International Consumer Research and Testing also assessed and compared the samples for their still picture quality, sound quality, ease of use, battery and versatility.
The results were varied. For example, a fully-charged battery for some highly rated samples can provide power for more than 2 hours of recording, but for certain weaker samples, the battery operates only less than an hour.
Of the samples included in the test, most are equipped with built-in hard disk or memory card as storage media, and the remaining few use traditional mini DV tape or DVD disc.
Generally, built-in hard disk has more storage capacity allowing longer time in recording; but memory card camcorders are usually more compact in size.
The optical zoom ranges of the samples are between 5 and 42; most are good enough for taking video at far distance.
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