Simultaneous to the development work on filmless cameras using the CCD was work on filmless movie cameras. The VCR allowed consumers to watch what they wanted whenever they wanted. But the development of the VCR led naturally to the development of the video camera and recording equipment. The one-piece result is better known as the camcorder, a contraction of CAMera and reCORDER.

Once color CCDs could be manufactured inexpensively, and once the videocassette was introduced, the race for a consumer video camera/recorder was on. When JVC announced VHS for the first time in Japan in September 1976, the company also unveiled two companion video cameras, each weighing about three pounds, each of which could be attached to a 16.5-pound shoulder-slung portable VCR. Two years later, Sony unveiled its first portable Betamax/video camera combination. RCA followed with its own two-piece VHS system in 1978. But these early portable video attempts were bulky and required both a camera and a bulky portable VCR. Almost simultaneously in 1982, two companies announced camcorder combinations. On June 1, 1982, JVC unveiled its new mini-VHS format, VHS-C. In Japan five months later, Sony announced its 112 Betamovie Beta camcorder, which it advertised with the catch phrase "Inside This Camera Is a VCR." The first Betamovie camcorder hit stores in May 1983.

In February 1984, photo giant Kodak introduced a new camcorder format, 8mm, and its first 8mm camcorder, the KodaVision 2000. Sony followed with its 8mm camcorder the following January, and the first hi-band 8mm, or Hi8, camcorder, in April 1988.

TV producers took advantage of consumer’s love of technology and their penchant for voyeurism by bringing a plethora of real-life comedy, horror and tragedy to a variety of "reality-based" TV shows, using camcorder footage submitted by viewers. The first of these was "America's Funniest Home Videos", which premiered as a special program on November 26, 1989, and was a top 20 show in its first three seasons. The show, spurred by the popularity of the camcorder, ironically itself spurred even greater sales of the device.

The camcorder reached its voyeuristic heights on March 3, 1991, when George Holliday caught a trio of Los Angeles policemen beating a motorist named Rodney King. The resulting furor prompted police departments across the country to install video cameras in their patrol cars.

Many disasters and news events subsequently would be captured not by news cameras, but by amateur videophiles. As the quality of the footage produced by camcorders increased, many shoestring cable organizations started to employ camcorders instead of professional video equipment. At home, film records of family celebrations such as weddings and bar mitzvahs were replaced by video.

In 1992, Sharp became the first company to build in a color LCD screen to replace the conventional viewfinder. Nearly all camcorders today offer a swing-out LCD panel that keeps the user from having to squint through a tiny eyepiece.

By the early 1990s, a new and improved video format was in development – the digital video cassette (DVC), now simply DV or MiniDV, which used a quarter-inch tape housed in a cassette about the size of matchbox. The format was created by a group of manufacturers called the HD Digital VCR Conference.

Panasonic, and later Sony, introduced the first MiniDV camcorders in September 1995, followed by Sharp and JVC two months later. The advantages of the new format were immediate: the cameras themselves were much smaller than either 8mm or VHS-C; the resolution was twice that of VHS, resulting in less generational loss when editing and making copies; and, because of its digital nature and the FireWire (IEEE-1394) interface on all DV camcorders, footage could be downloaded and edited on a personal computer.

This editing capability gave rise to personal computer-based home video editing, which has become as sophisticated as editing suites found in many TV studios. It also enabled struggling filmmakers to use video to create their imaginative works with only an inexpensive camcorder. The best example of this camcorder-made movie trend was the wildly successful "The Blair Witch Project" in 1999.

Camcorder technology, like all technologies, continues to evolve. In 2000, Hitachi introduced the first DVD-RAM camcorder that used a three-inch disc and in 2002 followed with three DVD-R compatible models. Sony advanced the tape-based camcorder with its MicroMV technology, which uses a cassette half the size of that of a MiniDV. In 2003, Canon, Sharp, Sony and JVC combined to standardize the HDV (high definition video) camcorder format, which uses a standard MiniDV cassette to record 1080i and 720p high definition video. In 2004, Panasonic and Sanyo unveiled the first flash memory-based camcorders, and in 2005 Sanyo unveiled the first high-definition camcorder that used solid-state memory.

In October 2001, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) honored Hitachi, JVC, Kodak, Matsushita and Sony with Emmy awards for their parts in developing the camcorder.