Digicams at CES 2006

If you can find someone to bet a few hundred dollars against all the big camcorder manufacturers updating their consumer lines at CES 2006, you'll be able to pick up one of the low-priced MiniDV camcorders we expect to see on the show floor. The price of video cameras that record DV-format video on MiniDV cassettes has dropped steadily over the past few years, and we anticipate seeing consumer MiniDV lines updated with models starting at not much more than US$300. One of the reasons why MiniDV is becoming the budget option is that newer video-recording formats are taking over and pushing it out of the higher price ranges. Here's how we expect this video-format power struggle to play out at CES 2006.

Less MiniDV 
MiniDV has been a great digital recording format for all kinds of videographers, not least because of the quality it's capable of capturing. However, its days are clearly numbered. We'll still see plenty of new MiniDV cameras at the show, but many of the pricier consumer models, which indicate the direction the market is moving in, will use other formats.

More mini DVD 
Camcorders that record MPEG-2 video onto little DVDs have been around for several years and are now a fixture of the consumer video landscape. We expect to see many of the major manufacturers introducing new DVD camcorders and that this format, which was priced for the cutting edge so recently, become available at a cost that the average home-video maker can afford.

Some flash and hard drives 
Although gadgets that record video onto flash-memory-card media such as SD and CompactFlash have been around for a while, it's only within the past year or so that we've seen flash-based camcorders that we'd actually consider spending money to own. Compact camcorders that record MPEG-2 video on internal hard drives have started trickling into the market recently as well, and we expect the flow to increase at CES 2006.

A little HD 
See that dust on the horizon? Feel the ground quivering? That's high-definition video heading for the consumer camcorder market. We don't expect the whole herd to arrive at CES 2006 (give it a couple years), but we wouldn't be surprised to see a couple new HD forerunners at the show.

And a smattering of snapshot cameras 
CES is more of an event for video than for photography, but since you can't throw a rock these days without hitting a brand-new digital camera, there will certainly be some in attendance at the show. We expect to see the usual handful of pocket cameras that turn up on the CES exhibit floor every year. When it comes to especially innovative or high-end models, however, most manufacturers will hold their fire until February. That's when PMA, the annual Photo Marketing Association trade show, rolls into Vegas. Yes, we'll be bringing you coverage of that one, too.