New York--In the YouTube era, content (not quality) reigns supreme.

So it's not surprising that a handful of electronic manufacturers are trying to make it easier for novice filmmakers to record their efforts on the cheap.

Pure Digital Technologies and RCA are just two of the companies offering digital camcorders for cheaper than $150 bucks.  Pure Digital Technologies even has a disposable camcorder that sells for $30 at select drug stores.

"Consumers are seeing value in video and are becoming comfortable with video,'' said David Ovadia, director of marketing at start-up Pure Digital Technologies. "One of the big benefits is you capture memories that you wouldn't bring your $800 camcorder to."

While the quality of these cheaper camcorders isn't as good as the pricier ones, the popularity of video Web sites like YouTube makes that a moot point.

"There's an awful lot of content that would be considered disposable, meaning it has entertainment value and then goes away,'' said Van Baker, an analyst at market research firm Gartner Group. "People aren't worried about the quality of the video or about being able to do semi-professional editing."

According to Baker, while these cheap camcorders won't displace the existing market for expensive camcorders, they will be supplemental, with more offerings from vendors likely in the future.

RCA, the Indianapolis consumer electronics company, started selling its $129 digital camcorder in May of 2006. The first iteration had 30 minutes of recording time. This year, the company rolled out a $99 model that records for 60 minutes and has features such as a memory card, rudimentary editing capabilities and the ability to record in different levels of quality. Next year at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, RCA plans to launch an expanded line of cheap camcorders, some of which the company says will be more rugged and appeal to men.

RCA's camcorders can be found at retailers including Wal-Mart, Circuit City and Amazon.com.

RCA did research before entering the new market and found men and young adults weren't keen on a cheap camcorder, while women more often were, said Dave Arland, vice president of marketing at RCA.

"Women already have a camcorder at home that their husband bought and nobody knows how to use,'' said Arland.  "They weren't using it to capture video in a quick way." He noted that demand for the device has been "strong" and "growing" since the launch in May of 2006.

According to Arland, one demographic that caught RCA off guard is the over 50 sect. "We were surprised by the number of grandparents buying it," he said.

San Francisco-based Pure Digital Technologies has two lines of camcorders, its throw away (that sells for $30) and its point and shoot line (that sells for $119.99 for 30 minutes of recording, and $149.99 for sixty minutes of recording).

With the disposable camcorder a consumer can go into drugstores (including CVS, Rite Aid, Duane Read and Long Drugs) to swap the camcorder for a DVD with the video recording. The point and shoot digital camcorder line also uploads directly to video sharing Web sites.

"If you look at the growth of services such as YouTube, we believe it will be a benefit consumers will get excited about," said Ovadia of the upload capability.

While RCA is seeing a lot of demand from women and people over the age of 50, Ovadia said Pure Digital Technologies' products are being adopted by a broad cross section of people.

"Its really people who have active lifestyles," said Ovadia. "Its anything from mom's with kids to sports enthusiasts."