December 8, 2009 – Victor Company of Japan announced the release of the new Everio GZ-HD620, a high definition camcorder with a 1/4.1-inch, 3.32MP CMOS sensor and 30x optical zoom. The camcorder features a light body—weighing only 270g despite its 120GB internal hard drive. The HD620 announcement follows closely on the heels of three new standard definition camcorders announced by JVC last week.

With an MSRP of $2295, the AG-HMC40 is one of the cheapest and smallest professional camcorders on the market. Its features and controls may be lacking compared to the other pro models we've reviewed, but its low price—along with its ability to record to regular SD/SDHC memory cards—makes it an intriguing product.

The Vixia HF S10 is one of three "flagship" camcorders released by Canon this year. It doesn't have the updated stabilization or the increased capacity of the recently released HF S11. However, it offers the same excellent performance, while giving consumers more convenience than the card-only HF S100. And since we're not really sure the HF S11 is worth the extra money, the HF S10 may be the best buy Canon has to offer this holiday season.

December 3, 2009 – Yesterday, JVC-Victor Japan released three new standard definition camcorders for the company's Everio lineup: the GZ-MG980, GZ-MS230, and GZ-MS210. All three models are smaller and lighter than their predecessors, offer a bit more zoom power, and utilize JVC's brand new "Active Mode" stabilization. These camcorders are currently available only in Japan, but they might be indicators of what we can expect when the company announces its 2010 American lineup.

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.