7. JVC GZ-HD7* (60G Internal Hard Drive)

Due to be released in April, the GZ-HD7 will be JVC's first consumer HD camcorder. The GZ-HD7 includes a large 60 GB hard drive, which should store five hours of HD video at its highest quality setting. Other features include a 3 CCD sensor, 1080i resolution (at a whopping 1920x1080), and a two lux light rating. The big news with the GZ-HD7 is a new compression system called "MPEG-2 Transport Stream", which uses a variable bit rate encoding that averages over 26Mbps and up to 30Mbps. This is faster than any other bit rate available (HDV tops out at 25Mbps and current AVCHD compression ranges from 12-15Mbps with a potential maximum of 24Mbps). It will be interesting to see how this new compression system's image quality compares to existing formats.

Panasonic HDC-DX1 (DVD)

Along with the HDC-SD1, the HDC-DX1 was introduced last and both are Panasonic's first HD camcorder offerings. They will also feature 3-CCD configurations with a 13Mbps data rate, in contrast to Sony's AVCHD HD models, which contain 1 CCD but boast higher overall sensor resolutions. Priced at $1,399, the HDC-DX1 will directly compete with the Sony's new top-of-the line DVD HD camcorder, the HDR-UX7.

Sony HDR-UX1 (DVD)

Released in September, 2006 the HDR-UX1 was the first Sony HD camcorder to use DVD media with the AVCHD compression format. The HDR-UX1 is priced at $1,399 and includes a 3.5" LCD, a manual control ring, and an external microphone jack. The HDR-UX1 features a 1/3" sensor that is used in many of Sony's HD Camcorders and features 2.1MP of video resolution that also can take 4.0MP still images. Illustrating how quickly things are changing and progressing in the HD camcorder space, the HDR-UX1 has already been replaced by the HDR-UX5 and UX7.