10. Conclusions

With HDTV showing up in more and more homes, video enthusiasts no longer have to settle for DVD-quality home movies. Though some cost as much as an HDTV set, HD camcorders yield the same high quality images that HDTV owners are used to with Hi Def broadcast TV and now with HD Discs, etc. I make no specific model recommendations because I felt there were too many brand new models that have not been tested or released yet, and I would guess that these next generation models will exceed most existing models in overall performance while being priced lower than their predecessors.

Buyers entering the camcorder market for the first time have a tough decision to make right now in that most HD camcorders are still priced over $1000 (although dropping rapidly), and feature-packed SD camcorders with 20x optical zooms can now be had for well under $300!. However, for anyone who already owns a decent SD camcorder, it does make sense to wait it out if they can't handle current HD camcorder prices. While there may not be any major breakthroughs coming soon, you can expect incremental price drops and feature/quality improvements with every generation of HD camcorder as it's still early in their life cycle. If I had to guess, I would say that mainstream consumer HD camcorders with a nice feature-set will level off around $400-$700 within a few years.

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