If last year was considered the inaugural year of high-definition digital camcorders, then this year marks the growth phase of high-definition digital camcorders. "High-definition" has become the hottest keyword for this year's consumer-grade digital camcorders. First, Sony, as a giant in the DV industry, firmly grasped two different HD standards this year—HDV and AVCHD—and launched four high-definition digital camcorders, including the HC3E and FX7E under the HDV standard, and the UX1E and SR1E under the AVCHD standard. The concept of "high-definition" has been masterfully utilized by Sony. JVC also touted its high-definition digital camcorders during the second half of the year, but no official release has been made yet. Panasonic, which only collaborated with Sony to establish the new high-definition AVCHD standard in mid-year, released two AVCHD high-definition digital camcorders at year-end: the HDC-SD1 and HDC-DX1, just managing to catch the tail end of this year's high-definition DV wave. All major DV manufacturers have concentrated their R&D efforts on high-definition digital camcorders, actively promoting the popularization of high-definition DVs in the consumer market. This is a very encouraging development trend!