Due in the shops this week is a product that its makers believe could provide the template for the future of video.

The SV-AV100 from Panasonic is a tiny camcorder that rewrites the rule book by capturing video, but not storing it on tape or disk. Instead, the high quality moving images are archived on to a removable SD (secure digital) flash memory card.

Storing video on memory cards isn't new. Most digital cameras, and some phones, enable users to take and store a few seconds of footage. However, these use compressed low resolution formats such as MPEG4. SV-AV1000 gives the user the option of shooting MPEG2 (the same standard as that used in digital camcorders) quality video.

Panasonic's group general manager for marketing, Andrew Denham, sees the SV-AV100 as showing how the low-end of the camcorder market will develop.

"We see the SV-AV100 as a real breakthrough. The SD card, with its small size and fast transfer rate, is ideal for this kind of product," he said.

The company is also positioning the SV-AV100 as a key device in its group of SD-related products. "It is part of a family of SD products including our DVD/hard disk recorder the DMRE100," explained Mr Denham. "Together they work seamlessly to support consumers' digital lifestyle choices.

"For example the SV-AV100 can play back an MPEG4 video that has been stored on Panasonic's DMRE100 DVD/hard disk video recorder."

While the SV-AV100 is clearly an impressive product that works well in capturing footage, it does have one major flaw: its limited storage capacity.

When shooting in top quality MPEG2 the device can only store around ten minutes on its accompanying 512Mb SD card. This compares with a figure of around an hour on rival tape and disk based systems. This wouldn't be so huge a problem were the device on sale for £300, but it actually retails for around £1000 with a fair chunk of that money spent on the 512Mb card.

Mr Denham acknowledges that for some consumers storage is an issue, but argues "There's a price evolution with SD cards that will drive costs down to realistic levels. Besides, consumers may own several SD cards that they use in a number of devices."

Panasonic isn't however the only company who can see the advantage of moving the camcorder market away from tape and removable disk based systems. In January, Samsung is set to debut the IP7 - a camcorder slightly larger than the SV-AV100 that records on to a 1.8 inch, 1.5 Gb hard disk.

Unlike the Panasonic product, the IP7 only records video in MPEG4. "It captures video in VGA mode at 30 frames per second. That standard is good enough for most family footage," says Stuart Kemp, the company's product manager for camcorders.

Although Samsung has offered traditional DV camcorders, Mr Kemp is convinced that a new product area is emerging. "I believe that for low-end camcorders the main priorities are size and ease of use. With the IP7 we are pioneering a new area. It's a device that users can put in their bags carry with them everywhere."

Yet Mr Kemp believes Panasonic may be a little premature with its SD camcorder. "Flash memory cards make perfect sense for camcorders, especially as people now use them in PDAs and phones. Yet at the moment they are too expensive which is why cheaper hard disks make sense," he said.

With its championing of its Memory Stick flash storage system Sony would also appear to be a company that might find the concept of capturing quality video on a flash memory card attractive. Yet Shaun Dorrington, product manager for camcorders, is adamant that such a device is still many years away for Sony.

"We believe people still want media like tape or disk that easily transfers footage to consumer electronics products. Products that ostensibly download video to PCs are still a niche area," he said, adding: "We also have a product that's not much bigger than a pack of cards in the IP1 which uses MicroMV tapes."

Launching the SV-AV100 is a brave move by Panasonic. Certainly the device's form factor and ease of use have huge appeal, but Panasonic may have its work cut out convincing any punters to spend £1000.

In a couple of years time, as the cost of flash memory continues to fall, Panasonic will be delivering products that rival other camcorder based systems in the amount of video they can hold. When that happens we really could be calling time on cassette and disk based systems.