I'll come clean. For many months I pretty much ignored the tech phenomenon which is the Flip Mino HD (and its rivals the Toshiba Camileo P30 and Creative Vado HD too.) After all I was safe in the knowledge that if I wanted good quality video then I could always whip out my mobile phone the Nokia N95. If I wanted HD video then there was the Samsung i8910 on the horizon.

But then I actually used the thing, and well I was blown away. The ease of use, the quality of the images, the built-in editing software were more than enough to convince me that I couldn't live my life without one

However I'd be lying if I said that me and the Flip Mino HD didn't still have issues. So here's my shopping list of five things that I want from the next generation model

1 An external microphone socket. It is heartbreaking to have a camera that captures such good video quality, yet sports only a rather primitive built in mic. Ok, this isn't essential for everyone, but the minute you try and do anything creative with the Flip Mino the mic lets it down. Big FAIL.

2 Built in wireless. Wi-Fi would be handy, but imagine if the Flip Mino HD had built in 3G (or EV-Do for the US). What would be amazing would be using the camera to stream live video to sites like Qik, or maybe even YouTube if it ever gets round to offering this.

3 A proper HDMI connection - I still can't believe that this fantastic HD camera doesn't have HDMI on its spec sheet. Its rivals like the Creative's Vado HD do. This is a must for next time guys.

4 A bigger screen - Ok, so I know the iPhone's video capture facility isn't much to write home about, but it does mean you can frame and take footage on a whopping big screen - much larger than the Flip Mino HD's rather paltry 1.5inch LCD. Double the size next time please.

5 A snapshot mode - This really is kindergarten stuff. I really don't get why you can't take the odd still image. Surely it can't be that tricky to fix

Ok, so I know that some of these features were probably not included to ensure the Flip Mino HD's very competitive price point of just £170 (a bit lower if you look online), but give me that arsenal of facilities on the Flip Mino HD Deluxe and I'll gladly pay you £200. How about it?

What would you like to see on the next Flip Mino?

Here's our review

and here's our top ten HD camcorders you can afford

I'm going to break this to you straight away. The Sony Handycam CX520 starts at around £1000. That's for the 32GB SSD model. If you want the 64GB version, you'd better be prepared to part with another £200 or so.

When I saw this thing on paper, I couldn't quite see what all the fuss was about but as soon as I got the thing in my hand it was obvious I was playing with a top quality HD camcorder.

What impressed me most about this machine is that the 3-way image stabilisation actually works staggeringly well. You can shake the thing pretty vigorously and the picture barely wobbles. The quality of the optics also sound pretty spectacular and it's got all the touches you'd want like GPS and touchscreen too. A little surprised that it only records interlaced images before upgrading them though.

One wonders how much more you'd have to pay for professional video cameras, if any at all, but ignore that thought and you'll be really pleased with this one. Looking forward to a full review.

SonyStyle

Pocket camcorders are all the rage and the best way to blow away the market leader, Flip, is by introducing a 1080p version of what they do so well. The Samsung HMX-U10 is a Full HD shooting, 10-megapixel stills capturing, 2-inch LCD sporting chunk of loveliness.

It measures a very comparable 56mm x 103mm x 15.5mm and weighs in at the all important sub-100g category - 95g to be exact. There's no mention of a zoom, so, presumably, you're getting a tiny bit of the digital variety at best but at least they've stuck in a decent 1/2.3 inch CMOS image sensor.

It appears to have a much more adult design than the competition but no sign of the nice, neat flip out USB-type feature and I've a feeling you'll have to stick with cables on this one. It's out from September and will doubtless go down a storm.

Samsung

Flip Mino HD review:

Why bother with fancy, expensive storage sucking HD camcorders when you can record in standard definition and upscale in playback through an HDMI cable? That's Samsung's philosophy with the release of two flash memory camcorders, the SMX-K40 and SMX-K44.

The two sport healthy sounding 52x zoom Schneider-Kruznach lenses that you can tweak out to 65x if you're happy to use the digital intelli-zoom which is designed to hold on to some of that quality that's usually lost to pixelation. Then shoot up to 10 hours and 20 minutes on the 16GB SSD, if using the SMX-K44, or however much you like if you've got the SMX-K40 with its zero onboard storage and gaping SD/SDHC card slot.

Naturally, there's image stabilisation so that you can actually hold the picture steady at maximum zoom and there's even a YouTube button so that you can flaunt share your vids, you generous soul, you.

Both are out next month which is August 2009 in case you're reading in the future. If you do happen to be in the future then please tell us what it's all like. Do we have flying cars yet, do hover boards exist and any of the next few years Grand National winners would be most helpful.

Samsung

The secret to any imaging hardware is in the holy trinity of the lens, the sensor and the processor, and Sony has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the Handycam CX520VE to make it a winner in all three areas.

The Exmor R CMOS sensor has backlighting technology to improve camera resolution at low light levels plus the fact that its a CMOS in the first place speaks for itself. The glassware is the same as you'll find in the top Sony Alpha DSLRs - the G lens - and it contains ED glass elements which keep the light as crisp and the images as high contrast as possible. And all the number crunching's taken care of by the BIONZ processor. All good so far.

Consumer camcorder technology has come on in leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, as evidenced by the number of high definition models we've reviewed on Tech Digest.

All that technology doesn't necessarily come cheap, though, so is it possible to get full HD on a fairly modest (sub-£500) budget?

Here are ten 1080p-capable camcorders that offer you a way in to high definition film-making.

Click on the image below to start the tour.

Tech Digest's Dan Sung puts the new Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 through its paces and comes out thoroughly impressed. Part of Sanyo's Dual Range, the Xacti is designed to take great video and stills while not compromising on portability.

A choice of auto-focuses, face-following, 720p playback, a 12 megapixel sensor and a 1600 ISO, it's certainly a well-specced little blighter, but no audio output? I mean come on. If you're looking for a step up from your Flip HD or Kodak Zi6, this is certainly a good place to start.

Tiny little HD camcorders are two a penny this year and today is the turn of Panasonic's two with there being around 50,000 pennies in this case.

The HDC-SD10 and HDC-TM10 are a pocket sized 227g, shoot at 1080p resolution and give you a very nice 16x optical zoom to play with. The only difference between the two is that the SD10 allows you to record to SD/SDHC cards only whereas the TM10 gives you an 8GB HDD on top of that.

In an industry where, suddenly, if you can't record full HD and take stills with a CMOS sensor, you're not in the game, JVC has still managed to pull out an impressive camcorder in the shape of the Everio X.

The X, or GZ-X900 as it's also known, offers 9-megapixel pictures and 1080p HD at a weight of 298g but, most interesting of all, it features video capture at up to 500fps. That translates as 10x super slow motion speeds. It'll be like watching the Tornado Camera in your own home movies.

It's out in June complete with 5x zoom Minolta glassware, an HDMI 1.3 port and will record onto SDHC. Prices to follow.

JVC

JVC HD40 & HD30 Preview:

Let's make this simple. If you like the original Flip Mino, you're going to ache for the MinoHD. Same kettle of bananas, only this time with 720/30p video recording instead of boring old VGA. Want to know what that looks like? Press play on the box below...

There's only a couple of real issues with what is one of the best camcorders I've held in my hands. The first is that it's mono sound recording. Not much you can do there if you want to keep the weight down. The second is the price.

Now, £169.99 isn't that expensive but it is a) around double what you'd pay for the VGA Mino and b) a little bit more than other Full HD camcorders to be hitting the shelves very soon.

Doubtless the Flip MinoHD will still do well. The battery lasts a lifetime, the 4GB/60mins recording memory is ace and I'll be very sad when it's time to send mine back.

Flip

Almost one year on and Flip Video is back at us with a revamped version of everyone's favourite pocket-sized camcorder. Ladies, gentlemen, I give you the Flip MinoHD. Can anyone guess how they've upgraded it?

Yes, it's all in the name. We're now looking at the world's smallest HD video camera - 720p of course - and they've accordingly upped the onboard memory to 4GB so that you can still capture that magic 60 minutes of footage.

It'll cost you £169.99 when it comes out on 7th April, which seems slightly on the expensive side after the likes of the Toshiba Camileo P10 was announced, but then it does come with easy to use Flip software and a whopping big fan base. Bound to be a hit once more.

Flip

Flip Mino review:

Buy a straight Flip

Pocket-sized, full HD camcorders are all the rage this year. Sanyo unleashed a world of Xactis, Toshiba came out with the £99 Camileo P10 and today it's the turn of the Sony Handycam TG7VE.

The claim to fame for this 230g pistol grip shooter is that it's the smallest full HD camcorder that comes with GPS. Yes, you can shoot your 2.3-megapixel video onto 16GB of internal memory for around six hours and then watch it all back on the 2.7" LCD complete with map and pinpoint graphics showing exactly where it is you saw that you saw you mate accidentally fall into that vomit spattered shopping trolley.

In true Sony style, the TG7VE takes light through a Carl Zeiss lens onto a 1/5" Exmor CMOS sensor and puts the lot together with a Bionz processor. It shoots stills at 4-megapixels, gives you up to 10x optical zoom and features all sorts of face-tracking and smile shot functionality which will even work in video capture mode.

No word on the price just yet but it'll be out in May along with a 32GB additional memory card plus a wide-angle cap too. Sounds like a good 'un so long as they can keep the price and battery consumption low.

Sony Handcam

Sanyo Xacti HD200 review

This is an 1080p camcorder. It's called the Toshiba Camileo P10 and it costs under £100. You can now close your mouth.

Along with the S10, the other camcorder announced by Toshiba today, it has a 4x zoom, a 2.5" LCD, a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, YouTube uploading and a pathetic amount of onboard storing, measuring a pitiful number even in megabytes. You can, of course, expand it with cards.

There's a couple of features in the way of nightvision and stabilisation but don't expect much for £99. Whatever you're after in a camcorder, these two are an absolute bargain. They're out May.

Toshiba

(images from Leccy Pig)

Today's bargain is for those of you who want to spend some serious cash on a camcorder. Bearing in mind that Sony equipment is pretty pricey at the best of times, and you can get other camcorders for less, I present to you the Sony Handycam HDR-SR12E.

With an RRP of £1,049, Amazon.co.uk is currently selling this beast for £749.99 -- that's a nearly £300 (29%) saving.

What do you get for your money, apart from the Sony name itself?

A very impressive piece of kit is the Sanyo Xacti HD200 camcorder complete with its 1080p video recording and 8.1-megapixel CMOS sensor. A little pricey at £549 put certainly plenty of bang, however many bucks your laying out.

I've put some of the incredible macro evidence over the jump.

More camcorder reviews
Waterproof Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 camcorder
Full HD Sanyo Xacti HD1010
2nd gen Flip Mino
JVC Everio HD30 and HD40
Sanyo Xacti CG9
Creative Vado

JVC's just sent us a bunch of details about their 2009 lineup of camcorders, and because we're nice, I fancied sharing them with you. There's the HD range, the G-series and the S-series. The HD range, as you might imagine from the name, is high-definition, the S-series model has dual SD card slots, and the G series is a mixed bag.

S-Series
Let's start with the S-series, because the word "start" begins with S. There's only one new model here, the GZ-MS120. As previously mentioned, it's got dual SD card slots and you can record continuously, so that if you run out of space on one it'll automatically swap to the other. In highest quality mode, you'll get 3.7 hours of recording from a pair of 8GB SD cards. In lowest quality, you'll get about 20 hours.

Toshiba today announces two new members of its Camileo range of highly portable camcorders, both of which are capable of shooting in full (1080p) high definition mode.

The Camileo H20 is an upgraded version of the H10 launched last summer, and features 1440 x 1080 shooting (not quite the standard widescreen 1920 x 1080 you'd expect from HDTV or a Blu-ray disc, but a fair compromise for a handheld device), 5x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom, video stabilisation, night shooting mode, YouTube upload facility, 5-megapixel digital stills and HDMI output.

Take one bucket of water, one Xacti VPC-WH1 camcorder, one blogger and you've got yourself a preview of just how well Sanyo's waterproof video recorder works when submerged.

I'll be getting a first hand look at the new Xacti range from Sanyo in just over an hour but before we bring you all that, I thought we'd have a proper report on the Xacti HD1010 which you can actually buy now for the price of £420. Take it away Susi...

Not cheaper but i reckon it should be going down in price by about tomorrow.

Sanyo

Related posts: Creative Vado HD | HD Sony Handycams

Those bods at Akihabara News, who get up in the morning about the time I going to bed, have scooped up the latest range of Sanyo Xacti camcorders that I thought I was going to have to wait until this evening to see.

Live from Sanyo HQ we find five HD additions to the compact video camera rage which include the slim, the sleek, the waterproof and the horizontal.