Audio recording Digital Camcorders

The Bottom Line: Sanyo's dual-camera Xacti VPC-CG10 has the design and features to easily shoot both HD-quality movies and 10-megapixel photos, but slow performance and mediocre photos keep it from being a solid do-it-all device.

Specs: Camcorder, CMOS, 5 x, Flash card, 6 oz

The Bottom Line: Sanyo's dual-camera Xacti VPC-CG10 has the design and features to easily shoot both HD-quality movies and 10-megapixel photos, but slow performance and mediocre photos keep it from being a solid do-it-all device.

Specs: Camcorder, CMOS, 5 x, Flash card, 6 oz

The Bottom Line: With its extreme zoom range and its low price, the Panasonic PV-GS39 is a good choice for shooting distant subjects.

Specs: Camcorder, CCD, Mini DV, 14.5 oz

The Bottom Line: Rivaling its MiniDV competitors in a variety of shooting conditions, the Panasonic VDR-D300 doesn't force you to compromise video quality for the convenience of shooting directly on DVD.

Specs: Camcorder, 3CCD, 10 x, DVD-R (8cm), DVD-RW (8 cm), DVD-RAM (8 cm), 20.6 oz

The Bottom Line: The Panasonic PV-GS400 offers outstanding value in a camcorder for the discriminating consumer.

Specs: Camcorder, 3CCD, 12 x, Mini DV, 4.0 megapixels, 1.5 lbs

Specs: Camcorder, CCD, DVD-R (8cm), DVD-RW (8 cm), DVD-RAM (8 cm)

The Bottom Line: This extremely compact, nicely designed camera should please technophiles who want both photo and video capabilities and can afford to splurge.

Specs: Camcorder, 3CCD, 10 x, Microdrive, 0.7 lbs

Editors' Take: Look! Up in the sky! It's a camcorder! It's a camera! It's...neither?

Specs: Camcorder, CCD, Flash card, 0.4 lbs

Specs: Camcorder, CCD, 10 x, Mini DV, 0.9 lbs

The Bottom Line: A very good ultracompact MiniDV camera, this model is easy on the wallet, too.

Specs: Camcorder, CCD, 10 x, Mini DV, 0.9 lbs