Have the next Spielberg of YouTube on your hands? Think about a camcorder as a holiday gift. Camcorders range dramatically in price, from the cheap cameras that simply have a "record" button to the cameras that'll help aspiring videographers create high-quality video. Join us as we break down some of our favorites.

Favorite pocket camcorders

The ultra-cheap ultra-portable camcorder market is one of the fastest growing segments, and it's also one of the best gift categories. For about $200, buyers can get a device that'll shoot adequate video that can be uploaded to the web without any fuss.

Our favorite in the category is still the original Flip Video Ultra. Though recently replaced by the more sleek Flip Video Mino, the Ultra still has a special place in our heart mainly because it's the cheapest camera on the list. Users of these cameras aren't expecting cinematic masterpieces, nor are they expecting the most storage or battery life. Instead, buyers should expect a camera that shoots video good enough for YouTube delivery and doesn't have any extra fuss. We love the Ultra and Mino as road trip cameras, and to have on hand for events that would be nice to record without requiring professional quality.

Of the others in the category, most place an emphasis on HD video, which we find a little funny. Sure, HD camcorders up the resolution, but when the focus is on price and portability, paying extra for HD seems a bit excessive. That being said, our favorite in the category isn't a Flip model, but instead the Kodak Zi6. We tend to opt for Kodak's image quality, as it is a bit better than the Flip Mino HD (check out our full review of the Flip MinoHD for the unabridged rundown). That being said, our primary consideration for all of the cameras in this class is going to be price. We're mainly looking for the cheapest unit possible, though if the Zi6 and Mino HD were priced next to each other, we'd likely opt for the Zi6.

Favorite solid state camcorders

While the pocket cams are technically solid state, these other cams are a bit higher-end with a higher price point to match.

Our favorite camera of the year packs a 32GB solid-state drive into a traditional camcorder form factor, with a lens that can't be beat. Canon's HF11 is one of the best camcorders we've seen in quite a bit. Of course, if that 32GB of internal memory and its 96 minutes of HD recording isn't enough, the camera can be expanded with SD and SDHC memory cards. This camera is a fairly serious unit though, and with a price of around $800 it'll capture those moments in HD with a fair amount of quality.

Also making a good showing is Samsung's SC-MX20. While the HF11's big highlight was that spacious storage, the SC-MX20's main draw is style. The barrel body is one of the sleekest we've seen to date, though all that sexy comes at the cost of built-in memory. Instead, users need to supply their own SD or SDHC memory card, though that's hardly a dealbreaker. Plus, at only $230, it's an extremely inexpensive camera that's definitely giftable.

One of our other favorites, though less favorite than the HF11, is Sanyo's updated Xacti series, including the VPC-HD2 ($400) and the standard definition VPC-E2 ($350). The big boon? Originally when Sanyo released the new Xacti models, the big deal was solid state. With that being in almost about every camcorder under the sun by now, the big deal with these two models remains the form factor. The sleek style is something we don't grow tired of. And, with an integrated still camera, we see this year's Xacti series as a good vacation cam, where you'll want to keep the memories for longer than you would with say, a Flip Video camera.

Favorite MiniDV camera

Recording to tapes might seem as archaic as typing on a typewriter, however people preferring to stick to the magnetic medium often favor it because of its versatility when editing on desktop machines with software like Final Cut Pro and other full-featured editing suites.

Canon's Vixia HV30 gets our pick as the tape-based camcorder of preference. Its sleek black paint job coupled with an extremely versatile feature set makes the camcorder a no-brainer for aspiring videophiles. Add in a mic-input — something that's rare on consumer camcorders — and the HV30 can do a basic job of recording better-than-average video productions. We've seen this camera floating around for about $700, which isn't too shabby when you consider the manual control options.

Hopefully that gets you on a good path to finding the right camcorder. If you've still got unanswered questions, make sure you stop by our Camcorder Buying Guide and find exactly which camera is right for you, or leave a comment on this post and we'll try to help you out.