Back in the early 1980s, when Howard Cosell was wrapping up his hosting duties on Monday Night Football, MTV still showed videos and the internet was still confined to colleges and army bases, the first camcorders came in exactly two flavors. But these days, both the quality of camcorders and the sheer quantity of available features and prices have grown exponentially. So, before you whip out your credit card and go shopping online or at the local big box store, let's try to make sense of those options.