$800 in the consumer camcorder market will get you a lot more than it used to. At the $800 price point you start to have a lot more high-definition camcorder options, and the camcorders available to you will often have a better video quality, more features, and in many cases a higher resolution built-in digital camera. Here are some of the best camcorders under $800.
The Sony DCR-SR82 records video onto a 60GB built-in hard drive. The camcorder has a 25x optical and 2000x digital zoom, a 1/6" CCD, and a professional quality Carl-Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens. The SR82 also has a variety of built-in scene modes d=for recording under different lighting conditions as well as manual options for users who want a little more control over their video.
The Panasonic SDR-H200 hard drive camcorder records video onto a 30GB built-in hard drive. The camcorder has a 10x optical and 700x digital zoom and 3 1/6-inch CCD's. The camcorder can also take 3.1 megapixel still photographs which are saved onto a removeable SD memory card, or to the camcorders hard drive.
The Sony DVD408 records video onto Mini-DVD discs that can then be played back in your DVD player. The DVD408 has a 10x optical and 80x digital zoom, professional quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens, and a variety of built-in scene modes for shooting under different lighting conditions.