What is the difference between a handycam and a camcorder?

Question

What is the difference between a handycam and a camcorder?

Answer 1

Handycam is a popular Sony brand used to market its camcorder range. It was launched in 1985 as the name of the first Video8 camcorder, replacing Sony's previous line of Betamax-based models, and the name was intended to emphasise the "handy" palm size nature of the camera, made possible by the new minituarised tape format. This was in marked contrast to the larger, shoulder mounted cameras available before the creation of Video8, and competing smaller formats such as VHS-C.

Sony has continued to produce Handycams in a variety of guises ever since, developing the Video8 format to produce Hi8 (equivalent to S-VHS quality) and later Digital8, using the same basic format to record digital video. More recently, the Handycam label has also been applied to camcorders recording on DVD, hard disk drives, MiniDV tape, and Memory Stick. It continues as one of the most enduring Sony brands, alongside the Walkman.

A camcorder is a portable electronic device for recording video images and audio onto an internal storage device. The camcorder contains both a video camera and (traditionally) a videocassette recorder in one unit, hence its portmanteau name. This compares to previous technology where they would be separate.

The earliest camcorders, developed by companies such as JVC, Sony, and Kodak, used analog videotape, but since the mid-1990s (and even before that in professional markets), camcorders recording digital video have become the norm.

All the best :)

Answer 2

good question. I think they are the same, prob different companies

Answer 3

Handycam is a Sony brand used to market its camcorder range. It was launched in 1985 as the name of the first Video8 camcorder, replacing Sony's previous line of Betamax-based models, and the name was intended to emphasize the "handy" palm size nature of the camera, made possible by the new miniaturized tape format. This was in marked contrast to the larger, shoulder mounted cameras available before the creation of Video8, and competing smaller formats such as VHS-C.

A camcorder is a portable electronic device for recording video and audio using a built-in recorder unit. The camcorder contains both a video camera and a video recorder in one unit, hence its portmanteau name. This compares to previous technology where an acquisition and recording devices would be separate.