The high-definition revolution is truly underway in the UK with flat-panel TVs, games consoles and even TV broadcasts getting in on the act. The Mac has also undergone a high-def transformation, beginning with iMovie HD in 2005 (Steve Jobs proclaimed it the year of high definition), and arriving last year at iMovie ’08, which has high definition support at its core.

The same revolution has hit movie making, of course, with MiniDV and DVD-based camcorders slowly making way for their HD successors. For consumer movie cameras that, of course, means AVCHD – a controversial video format that enables you to record high-definition footage on hard drives, flash memory cards and even Blu-ray discs in today’s camcorders.

AVCHD is controversial in three key respects. The first is quality. Most AVCHD camcorders available today produce 1,920 x 1,080 interlaced video footage, which, as any home cinema enthusiast will tell you, isn’t up to the same level of picture quality as the 1080p full HD standard featured in many modern TVs – despite camcorder maker claims to the contrary.

Second is that AVCHD – which is partly based on the same MPEG-4/H.264 adopted by Apple for QuickTime, iTunes and the iPod requires a lot more processor horsepower to convert it so you can view, edit and use it on your Mac. That effectively prevents older PowerPC-based Macs handling AVCHD at all. AVCHD camcorders are also doing a good job of sidelining FireWire; USB 2.0 is its transfer connection of choice. Apple’s decision to drop FireWire support for the latest MacBook in October is a symptom of the way that all things video are heading.

The third problem lies with iMovie ’08. In theory, any HD camcorder should work with it, but less than 50 PAL camcorder models are officially Apple-supported – and even then that support often has caveats attached. Your best bet may be to go to the iMovie ’08 camcorder support page (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014#1), to see how the camcorder you’re thinking of buying will fare.

HD camcorders remain wonderfully impressive objects. They deliver a radical upgrade in picture and sound resolution for the majority of us who use camcorders to capture special events like family gatherings and holidays. In many respects, HD camcorders finally offer the quality to live up to the memories of an event that you have in your head – and that has to be welcomed, surely?

So let’s move right along and see how our choice of £600-£800 HD camcorders fare...

Buying Advice

For a long while AVCHD looked like it would forever play second fiddle to MPEG-2 HDV, but we’re happy to report that’s largely no longer the case. The Canon HF100, Panasonic HDC-SD100E and Sony HDR-CX11E all make a strong case for why we should choose AVCHD over its forebear.

It’s also good to see that camcorder makers are finally listening to calls among enthusiasts for more ‘prosumer’ features in AVCHD models. The Panasonic HDC-SD100 stands out most in this respect, thanks to its manual focus/zoom ring, and an easily accessible range of tweakable settings that don’t force you to venture into sub-menu hell. It’s also great to see features like Face Detection and Smile Shutter on AVCHD camcorders. Both make filming easier and much more fun, especially as stills shooting capability is just as important as video for many camcorder users.

The contrast between AVCHD-toting camcorders and their format rivals is particularly striking here. Hitachi’s Blu-ray equipped DZ-BD70E fares the worst, partly because disc-based recording of any stripe seems unfashionably clunky compared to the flash memory or hard drive rivals.

Blu-ray also seems like a stretch too far. Although AVCHD and Blu-ray recording formats are essentially the same, the DZ-BD70E seems almost wilfully different. We can’t believe there’ll be much call for the format in the future, especially from Mac users. The DZ-BD70E’s poor picture quality adds insult to injury.

In fifth place is JVC’s GZ-HD6EK. By offering TS/MPEG-2 HD recording – like disc-based camcorders – it seems like a throwback. Again there are too many compromises – from picture quality to sheer size – that conspire to make the HD6EK feel like an also-ran.

Taking fourth is its sibling the JVC GZ-HD40EK. This curious hybrid offers both TS/MPEG-2 HD and AVCHD recording – potentially giving you the best of both worlds. The HD40EK performs particularly well when it comes to AVCHD picture quality, but the camcorder’s bulk and lack of optical image stabiliser ultimately count against it.

That leaves the Panasonic HD100E and Sony HDR-CX11E tied in second place. Both camcorders are solid AVCHD performers and, thanks to Face Detection and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, offer features most rivals lack.

They lose out, ultimately, because neither is capable of the brilliant picture quality, ease of use and value for money offered by our winner – the Canon HF100. But then we felt that way almost from the off. Just like its HF10 sibling, it sets the standard for modern consumer camcorders by which all others are judged.