Professional and consumer camcorders are based on several, incompatible formats. Ed Beta and MII are popular professional formats, while VHS, compact VHS, and ultra-compact 8 millimeter dominate among consumers. The 8-millimeter format led to significantly smaller cameras that can be operated with one hand (Sony uses the trade name Handycam to describe its 8-millimeter models). Super VHS (S-VHS) and Hi-8, which are compatible with their lower-resolution counterparts, offer higher definition and color control when used with high-resolution playback equipment. S-VHS and Hi-8 are used by high-end consumers, as well as academic and industrial videographers. The camcorder has also led to a growing sophistication in ancillary equipment for the home video market, with numerous titlers, editors, and mixers available to both average and high-end users. Computer-based multimedia allows camcorder images to be incorporated in computer presentations for business and instructional use.

The camcorder came into prominence in early 1991, when Hollywood plumbing store manager George Holliday focused his camcorder on the beating of Rodney King by members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The tape, which Holliday submitted to KTLA, received international attention, and showed the power amateur video can wield over the national, indeed, world psyche. Previous to this, local stations, as well as cable news giant CNN, had solicited and used newsworthy amateur video. The popular ABC series America’s Funniest Home Videos and similar television programs throughout the world are based on the existence of camcorders, as well.

The camcorder has also become an icon of numerous dramas and sitcoms, which commonly frame home and family scenes within the confines of a camcorder viewfinder, replacing the very notion of “home movies” as a form of expression.