Switched picks Best HD Camcorder Under $250

Hey Reader: We live in wonderful times. There are many styles of camcorders to choose from these days, and most companies have HD models for under $500. (Video sites such as YouTube and Vimeo make it easy to post HD clips right from a camera. But if you want to edit HD creations first, know that you'll need a pretty powerful PC.) For your price range, nothing beats the convenience of a pocket-sized camera like the Pure Digital Flip MinoHD, which delivers the goods while still being light on your wallet and incredibly easy to use.

Gone are the days of lugging around an unwieldy camcorder and box of tapes -- today's pocket camcorders record to solid-state hard drives and have hardly any moving parts. Not only does this eliminate tape jams, it also enables nearly instantaneous shooting, so you don't miss the moment when inspiration strikes.

Buy a Flip MinoHD Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Black)

Check out the full entry at Switched.

Six HD Pocket Camcorders Side-by-Side

Senior Editor Tim Moynihan takes a look at six HD, YouTube-friendly pocket camcorders from Creative, Kodak, Sony, and Pure Digital, including the brand new Flip UltraHD. With features ranging from a wide-angle lens to variable frame rates, one of these devices in the $150- to $230-range is bound to be a great fit for your needs.

Read the full review or watch the video at PCWorld

Six HD camcorder reviewed and compared

PCWorld Senior Editor Tim Moynihan takes a look at six HD, YouTube-friendly pocket camcorders from Creative, Kodak, Sony, and Pure Digital, including the brand new Flip UltraHD. With features ranging from a wide-angle lens to variable frame rates, one of these devices in the $150- to $230-range is bound to be a great fit for your needs.

All camcorders lack an optical zoom and any sort of image stabilization, they also don't have any WiFi or GPS capabilities. But for about $200, there's not much to complain about.

Check out the video review at PCWorld

Kodak Zx1: small, inexpensive, weatherproof, HD camcorder launches in Australia

Gizmodo Australia can has cheeseburger after posting this:

Every Jackass in America has a cheap HD camcorder in the US these days, thanks to models from Flip, Creative, Sony, Kodak and god knows how many other manufacturers. Meanwhile, here in Australia, we're left with pretty much nothing. Luckily, Kodak's decided to offer us some hope with the Zx1, a weatherproof 720p camcorder that's just $299. Now every jackass in Australia can record their misadventures in HD for YouTube glory!

The camera records 720p video at 30-6fps straight to SDHC cards, allowing you to get up to 10 hours worth of video onto a 32GB card. There's a built-in 2-inch LCD screen, and built-in editing software aking it easy to get your video up on the web.

The Zx1 also comes with a rechargeable NiMH battery and an HDMI cable. Personally, this jackass cannot wait to get his hands on one to test out. The Zx1 will hit shelves this month in black, red and pink.

You can buy a Kodak Zx1 HD Pocket Video Camera (Yellow) and be happy with it.

CES: Kodak ZX1 Pocket Video Camera on display

The Kodak ZX1 Pocket Video Camera will have a sealed speaker and microphone so a user can record 720p-quality video in rain or snow. (Don't think about totally immersing it in water, however.) It will be priced at $149.95.

The camera will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas.

The dimensions of the ZX1 will be smaller than their first Pocket HD Camcorder, the Zi6, and it also claims to have improved performance in bright light and in low-light conditions. Along with the overall reduction in size, the screen has also been reduced from a 2.6-inch screen to a 2.2-inch screen; both screens have a 4:3 aspect ratio. The older and larger Zi6 will continue to be sold for $179.95.

The new ZX1 will write HD movies as .mov files using an H.264 codec. These files are compatible for playback in Windows and OS X, though they include video editing software compatible for Windows only. The software is stored on a small amount of internal memory in the camera; video files will be stored to a SDHC card which is expandable up to 32 Gbytes. Direct playback on an HDTV is also possible via the camera's HDMI out.

Via PCMag