Hi,
Mini-dvd recorder is a recorder that uses small dvds to record. Depending on the quality setting you may get up to 30-40 minutes of recording time. A DVD recorder uses full size dvd's for recording. I am not sure what a "high tech" camera is. Remember with the DVD recorders you have to carry extra DVD's with you and you have to finalize them before you could view them. I just upgraded from a mini-dvd recorder to a HD hard drive Panasonic recorder.