Last year it was camcorders with internal hard disks, but this year the latest trend is flash memory.

Flash memory has many advantages over conventional hard disk technology, the greatest of which is that it requires no moving parts. It has been, until recently, small in capacity and large in price, but that is now beginning to reverse. We are seeing flash memory capacities creep up – expect to see laptops using solid state memory for all the advantages that it gives this new generation of camcorders.

The sort of capacities required for laptops is still prohibitively expensive, but drop to the 8GB used by camcorders and it is no longer a costly technology. The other benefits to flash memory are that products using it will be lighter, that unlike hard disks it doesn’t require cooling and with no moving parts, it’s less of a drain on battery life.

Camcorders using flash memory will also be ready for use faster from switch on, so there’s less chance of missing that golden moment. Obviously, if you like to film hours upon hours of footage, a hard disk camcorder may suit better because of its greater capacity.

Expect to see various new flash memory camcorders on the market this coming October. Among those on show at Gitex were Samsung’s latest high definition range. It is actively focusing on flash memory for its camcorders now, and the VP-HMX10C shown here will cost around Dhs3,000. The company said 8GB can hold two hours of 720p HD footage, and the unit (including battery) weighs only about 80g. It also has models with DVDs as well, although they don’t record to the DVD, rather to the flash memory, and footage can then be transferred to DVD in-camera.

Panasonic’s models are a little more expensive, costing in the region of Dhs5,000 once out in October. The HDC-SD5 is flash memory only, while the HDC-SX5 can also record to DVD. They can be plugged straight into HDTVs via an HDMI slot and take 3.1MP stills photos.

In the battle of the large screen TVs that is typical of consumer technology events, Sharp won out today with its 108inch Aquos LCD TV. That’s not to say that Sharp had the best TV on display – Samsung had some decent flat screens on show, and Sony was again touting its super slim and OLED TVs.

But you couldn’t help but be impressed by the sheer size on the Aquos. It will be available in the UAE next year, but no price was given. Panasonic is selling its 103inch plasma for Dhs265,000, and the larger Sharp is not only 108inches, but also LCD, which at a similar size will be far more expensive. So don’t expect too much change from Dhs300,000 – in fact, don’t be surprised if it costs more.

Love your Nintendo Wii but feel it deserves to be attached to something just a little better? Well, you could try the Panasonic approach, and use it with a huge 103inch, full HD plasma TV.

This one on show at Gitex in Dubai, has been knocking around for a while – the company has also displayed it at CES in Las Vegas in the past.

But should you have pockets deeper than your legs – and a home big enough to accommodate it – then this could be yours for a mere Dhs265,000. One thing to remember is that while Panasonic has hooked the Wii to a 1080p TV, the games machine itself doesn’t display games in high definition.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, it won’t surprise you to hear that the child won. Easily.