It's time once again for our annual CamcorderInfo select awards. Every year, we honor those camcorders that stood out above the dozens that go through our labs. Each of these camcorders has survived a battery of tests and has been carefully compared to the competition; our awards reflect the camcorders that our review process has shown to be the best.

November 18, 2009 – Sony announced today a prototype model of the NXCAM—a professional camcorder that records HD video using the AVCHD compression. The NXCAM is Sony's first professional camcorder line to record video to Memory Stick PRO Duo memory cards and the first to offer AVCHD recording

The FS200 is a stylish little standard definition camcorder from Canon that costs around $299 MSRP. The FS200 records to SD/SDHC memory cards, offers a 37x optical zoom, and is one of the best all-around standard definition cams we've tested this year.

The DMC-GF1 ($900 with kit lens) is an enticing video-capable DSLR from Panasonic that uses the Micro Four Thirds lens mount system. The camera is roughly the same size as the Olympus E-P1, and the two cameras perform very similarly—both topping out with a 1280 x 720 maximum video resolution.

The HDR-CX500V (MSRP $1099) from Sony is a high-end HD camcorder that records to 32GB of internal memory or Memory Stick cards. The camcorder did quite well in our testing, and its compact design is certainly striking, but Sony missed the target with its re-designed control wheel and updated menu system—not to mention leaving out several features that are commonly found on high-end models.

As far as mid-range HD camcorders go, the JVC GZ-HM200 ($579 MSRP) is a solid product. The sister-model to the GZ-HD300, the HM200 includes dual SD/SDHC memory card slots and offers a fairly straightforward shooting experience. The camcorder has some handling issues—marred by cheap construction and a flimsy hand strap—but, overall, it's a good mid-range model from JVC.

October 20, 2009 – Sony announced today the release of two new models to their XDCAM EX line of professional camcorders—the PMW-350 and the PMW-EX1R. The PMW-350 is an entirely new camcorder from Sony and it is the company's first memory-based camcorder to include a 2/3-inch CMOS chip. The PMW-EX1R, on the other hand, is an upgrade to the company's previous XDCAM model, the PMW-EX1.

October 14, 2009 – A new version of the widely popular Flip MinoHD camcorder was announced today. The new camcorder features double the storage capacity of the previous Flip MinoHD (8GB  vs. 4GB), and it comes with a larger, 2-inch LCD—the same size screen found on the Flip Ultra and UltraHD models. This new, larger capacity MinoHD is available now and retails for $229.99.