VHS camcorders are the only camcorders where you can take the tape out of your camcorder and stick it directly into your VCR to watch.

All the other formats require that the video be outputted from the camcorder. For example, if you had a DV camcorder and wanted to watch it on your television, you'd use the RCA outputs. You could also connect these outputs directly to your VCR and a make VHS copy.

Some digital camcorders include what is called digital out or firewire out. This is a method by which a camcorder outputs its video signal digitally. When hooked up to a computer, you can download an entire day's recording onto your computer. The DV IN that some camcorders have also allow you to output from your computer digitally and record digitally onto the camcorder.