Is the flip camcorders memory expandable?

Which is the current better option HDD or Memory Card Camcorders?

• I am looking to replace my DV camcorder, and am confused which is the best option for replacement, HDD or Memory Card?

• Answer:

  From a video quality perspective, miniDV tape continues to provide the best available video quality because DV (and HDV) compress WAY less than HDD or flash memory MPEG2 (or AVCHD). That said, HDD and flash memory consumer camcorders use the same files formats for storage, so you need to look at other things to compare - of course, this presumes you don't mind the reduced video quality. HDD camcorders can have problems with loud audio (bands, loud motors, noisy crowds, etc.) because of the vibration loud audio provides - this results in the hard drive heads parking themselves to protect the disc platters. When the heads are parked, nothing is recorded to the hard drive. HDD camcorders can have issues with high altitude - read the manuals. Anything higher than about 9,700 feet can cause problems. If you drop/break a HDD based camcorder and you have not yet transfred that video to a computer, how will you get it? Data recover services like DriveSavers LOVE HDD based camcorders. They can make lots of money recovering files from the hard drive. Neither miniDV tape nor Flash memory based camcorders have the vibration or altitude issues HDD camcorders have. And typically, when you drop/break a miniDV tape or Flash memory based camcorders, just get the tape or memory card out and use another camcorder. With miniDV tape based camcorders, the tape is the digital video archive - presuming you do not re-use the tape. I never re-use tape. With flash memory (or HDD), you have an extra step of copying the files to *something* for archiving (before you start editing). Take a look at the professional equipment at Sony, Panasonic, Canon and JVC... They continue to use miniDV tape because it is stable, mature, works, has best video quality, is an "automatic archive", and miniDV tape is cheap. So... your BEST option for replacing a miniDV tape based camcorder - in my opinion - is with another miniDV tape based camcorder. When consumer HDD and flash memory camcorders start using DV/HDV formats (like the Panasonic P2 cards and the FireStore external hard drives, then it will be time to take a look at those camcorders...