If you are talking about technical specifications, Mini DV is indeed the medium which provides the highest quality in consumer camcorders. In the PAL format, it offers a resolution of 720x576, 25Mbps, 25 frames per second, and using the DV codec. With DVD as recording medium, the resolution and frame rate are the same at 720x576 and 25 frames per second, but by using MPEG-2 codec for compression, the higher compression ratio has an impact on the final quality, lowering the data throughput rate to between 3Mbps to 9Mbps. However, improvements in technology enables the DVD camcorder to offer better quality.

For instance, the Canon DVD camcorder, when used at XP mode which offers a 9Mbps data throughput rate, gives picture quality approaching that of Mini DV.  There are many camcorders on the market using hard drives and memory cards as storage media, but the picture quality they offer vary a lot. Most of them use MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 codec to significantly compress the data. When you are in the market for one, pay attention to the resolution, compression codec employed, and data throughput rate as a guide to the final image quality it offers.