DVD Camcorders:

Share Your Family Memories

By The Vann's Editorial Team

You're the default family historian. Do you want to be the absent-minded professor or the "totally on top of it" rock star version? Do you want to be shuffling through a pile of VHS tapes with masking tape labels? Do you want to be the one who can't find the special moment amid three hours of humdrum? The one who keeps fast-forwarding past it when you do finally wind up in the right era. Or are you going to be the hip, "let me flip through my DVD rolodex and cue up the scene in minutes" type -- you know, the historian that doesn't smell like old things?

A DVD camcorder will help provide the savvy self-image (and the spectacular actual images) you desire. With a DVD camcorder, you'll be able to capture all your family's special moments on eight centimeter DVDs that can be played in virtually any DVD player. Adjustable 'chapter' thumbnails with personalized titles like "Laura's First Recital" make finding what you're looking for less like an archeological dig, more like shopping. Just like a movie you'd rent, you'll be able to scroll through and select the scene/chapter you want to watch with the touch of a button. Isolate that scene from those you don't want to share, and use your computer or media center to burn copies for mailing to family and friends, or post them to a public website for all the world to see. Try that with VHS.

Obsolescence is always a concern with technology--just ask a cartwright (replaced by an autoworker), or a scrivener (replaced by a photocopier). The latest technologies-Blu-ray and HD DVD-relieve the inevitable fear of change by being backwards-compatible with DVD camcorders and the discs they produce. Rest assured, you will be able to play your DVD recordings in the fast-breaking next generation of technologies.

In terms of permanently archiving your memories, DVDs, and the technology to read them, may not last forever (despite heated debate on any number of internet forums), but they'll certain last longer than any of the available tape formats. What you can count on is that eventually a new technology will come along? and it will allow you to upgrade your old images from DVD onto the new format. You want it to last forever? Scratch it on the wall of a cave.