Video has never been more accessible for consumers -- and more confusing. It's even easier to use -- and harder to understand and master. It's all about "one-click" simplicity -- and an overwhelming profusion of options.
If you're ready to dive into making own videos, there are two key questions: the type of camcorder to shoot with, and the video editing software to use to create your productions.
Camcorders: There are four main options for digital video camcorders, as Mini-DV tape is augmented by 3-inch mini-DVD disc, hard disk drives (HDD), and solid-state memory (SDHC) -- as well as various combinations of the above.
In particular, solid-state memory is coming on fast as almost the best of all worlds for camcorder storage, offering the instant-access convenience of hard disks, and the easy removability of tape and DVD. And today's higher-capacity formats can hold 80 minutes of high-definition video on an 8 GB card.
Software: Meanwhile, today's consumer video editing software provides amazing capabilities at around a $100 price point -- importing a profusion of formats, real-time editing and effects, export to mobile and Web, and burning DVD and high-def formats. At the same time, these applications also package impressive technology for automating editing, clean-up, enhancement, and music creation.
See my article -- Video Trends 2008: Mobile to High-Def for more on camcorder formats and video editing software.
And for more on high-def camcorders with the new HD video formats, see HD on the Desktop: HDV and AVCHD: Consumer Software for HD Playback & Editing.