Sony HDR-HC1E

This is no ordinary camcorder. With a 2.97megapixel Cmos sensor and plenty of processing power, the HDR-HC1E from Sony is able to deliver images of a quality that is astonishing for a product of this size and price.

By supporting High Definition (HD) video, it packs each image with four times the number of pixels of a Standard Definition (SD) camcorder.

The 2.7in widescreen LCD doubles up as a touch-screen control panel, making menu navigation simple, while the body includes only the number of buttons needed during shooting. These include backlight compensation, night shot, exposure, zoom and focusing.

Boasting an impressive specification, this camcorder combines all the features you could want with enough control and manual features to keep professionals happy. Unlike traditional HD equipment, it's also small and light enough to be carried around by hand.

Sadly, most consumer video-editing packages are not yet ready to cope with HD content. This means HDR-HC1E owners may have to spend a considerable amount on professional software before they're able to get the best from their camera.

Similarly, HD video requires far greater processing power to manipulate, and expensive high-resolution monitors to display. Even televisions labelled as HDTV compatible often don't have the resolution to display the full quality supplied by the HDR-HC1E.

The camcorder can also record SD video in the normal way, but what's more impressive is that it can shoot in HD but play back in SD, with the camera performing conversion on the fly.

In this way, you can edit your video in SD now, safe in the knowledge that you have an HD master to return to in the future.

Although more expensive than the best consumer SD camcorders, Sony's HDR-HC1E is an excellent low-cost introduction to the world of HD.