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If you got an HD-capable digital camera or camcorder over the holidays, you might be wondering which Web sites can handle those massive files you've been recording. Over on Webware, we put six big video-hosting sites head-to-head to see which one handled HD video the best.

Included in the comparison is how big your files can be, how much each service costs, and most importantly, how pretty each one looked. The results might surprise you.

Read the story.

The Super Bowl is one of the must-watch TV events of the year, and it can be a complete viewing experience.

On The Early Show on Tuesday, CNET TV Senior Editor Natali Del Conte presented super ways to make watching the big game as good as it can be for the serious living-room fan, showcasing some high-tech gadgets providing premiere ways to watch.

She also showed those who don't want to purchase anything how to make the best of what they already have:

The serious splurge: Panasonic 65-inch Premiere
This model is the Ferrari of televisions, and it only began shipping last week. It is sold only through really high-end retailers, and it cannot yet be ordered online. It has a professional studio-quality monitor and the richest black detail of any TV on the market. The plasma technology offers clear motion reproduction, deeper blacks, and a wider viewing angle.

Price: $9,995

There is no CNET review yet for this model.

The more affordable: Vizio 37-inch television
This model is not only affordable for a flat-panel TV, it gets great reviews from technology sites and magazines. It has accurate gray-scale and primary colors. This model also has one of the most important things that you should always look for in an HDTV--more than one HDMI port. This one has three, in fact, as well as one PC output. If you are looking for a solid and advanced LCD at a decent price, this is it.

Price: $730 ... Read more

(Credit: CNET)

I've mentioned before my love--no, lurve--for high-def camcorders. Here's your chance to grab one for just about the lowest price I've seen: Vanns.com and WilloughBys are both offering the Canon HV10 for $499 shipped. (Actually, it's $499.98 at Vanns, so budget accordingly.) These are factory-refurbished units that include a manufacturer's warranty (though neither site specifies the duration; I'd ask before ordering).

The tape-based Canon HV10 captures full 1080i video and 2.7-megapixel still photos. It's chock full of advanced features, including optical image stabilization, a 10x optical zoom, and lots of manual controls. CNET didn't like the camcorder's ergonomics or short battery life, and I'm bummed that it lacks an HDMI output for connecting directly to your HDTV.

Nevertheless, the HV10 captures absolutely dazzling video for a price that's hard to beat. Before soccer season ends and you miss your chance to record your little superstar in full HD glory, jump on this deal.

Sanyo just announced its latest pocketcam, the Xacti HD700. Like the Xacti VPC-HD2 we looked at last spring, the HD700 can record 720p video and 7-megapixel still images to SD and SDHC cards, and features the same signature pistol-grip design of the rest of Sanyo's Xacti line.

Despite its many similarities, the HD700 differs greatly from the HD2. The new camera can record AVC/H.264 MPEG-4 video, a format Sanyo claims greatly reduces file size while retaining quality, and will let you fit more video on a card. It also uses Sanyo's new "Face Chaser" feature, a face-detection system that the company says can track up to a dozen faces and adjust focus and exposure accordingly.

The HD700 also uses a larger, 2.7-inch flip-out screen compared to the HD2's 2.2-inch display. Unfortunately (and confusingly), the HD700's lens gets a bit of a downgrade from the HD2. The new pocketcam uses a 38-190mm-equivalent, f/3.5-4.7 lens that only offers 5x zoom power against the HD2's f/3.5, 10x lens. While the smaller lens is a bit of a buzzkill, it helps keep the HD700 small and light; the new camera measures just 4.3 inches tall and 1.4 inches deep and weighs just under half a pound with battery and card, slightly smaller than the HD2.

This new camera comes less than a month after Sanyo announced the Xacti HD1000, a high-def pocketcam that features both a 10x zoom lens and AVC/h.264 MPEG-4 720p recording. Unfortunately, the HD1000 also retails for about $200 more than the HD700, an odd price jump since it only shoots 4-megapixel stills and, at 2.1 inches deep and 11 ounces with battery and card, is much bulkier than the HD700.

The Sanyo Xacti HD700 ships in late October, and will retail for about $600. It will come in silver, red, and brown versions. The black HD1000 ships later this month with a suggested retail price of $800.

(Credit: JVC)

Earlier this year, JVC released the Everio GZ-HD7, an ambitious high-definition hard drive camcorder. Apparently it wasn't quite enough, because JVC just announced a smaller, less expensive follow-up to the HD7, the Everio GZ-HD3.

Strikingly similar to the HD7, the HD3 uses the same 3-chip sensor configuration and the same 60GB hard drive as its bigger brother. Unlike the HD7's 10x Fujinon lens, though, the HD3 uses a new 10x Konica Minolta-branded lens. The HD3 crams all of these neat features into a smaller, lighter body, measuring over an inch shorter and weighing a fifth of a pound less than the HD7. Despite all these benefits, the HD3 does omit two of the HD7's features. It doesn't support the HD7's 1920 x 1080 "FHD," or "full high-definition" mode. While the FHD mode could conceivably produce slightly better video quality than the HD3's various shooting modes, CNET's own Lori Grunin said in her review of the HD7 that, "the FHD and 1440 CBR video looked quite similar to each other." She also noted that the dearth of supporting software for FHD makes it even more difficult to work with than most high-def footage. The HD3 also lacks the HD7's optical image stabilization, instead using an electronic image stabilization system.

The JVC Everio GZ-HD3 ships in September with an estimated retail price of $1300, a full $300 less than the HD7.

One of our biggest complaints with the Apple TV was the dearth of HD video content. The product is capable of streaming 720p high-definition video, but to date, all of the movies and TV shows at Apple's iTunes Store are encoded at a "near DVD" resolution of 480p. But HD content has finally arrived on iTunes--and it's free. The Washington Post announced today that its online HD video podcast--which is shot in 720p high-definition--will now be available through iTunes.

We downloaded the two most recent episodes of the podcast--Edwards Family Values as well as Contamination and a Crusade--to evaluate the video quality. Overall, it was a big step up from previous iTunes fare, but critical viewers will find it falls short of HD broadcasts and even most DVDs. When viewed on a 42-inch Panasonic plasma TV, the improved resolution was evident on the images of John Edwards speaking to an auditorium full of students, but false contouring and solarization artifacts were easy to pick out in the background (white walls were a prime culprit). Close-ups of Edwards' face also exhibited some swimming pixels. Likewise, the depth of field offered was good, but not comparable to what you'd find on an HD broadcast (let alone a Blu-ray or HD DVD movie).

The problem here isn't resolution but bitrate--4,061Kbps with a mono soundtrack. That's a big improvement over the 1,516Kbps encoding found on a purchased episode of The Office, but merely 40 percent of the 10Mb capacity found on a standard-definition DVD. (Apple TV maxes out at 5Mbps, or about 5,000Kbps.) Of course, the better video quality comes at the expense of file size: the Edwards video was a mere 8.5 minutes long, but the file was a rather meaty 250MB--the same size as the aforementioned 21-minute episode of The Office. In addition to the increased download time, the large file size and bitrate affects streaming performance as well. Live streaming from an 802.11g laptop to the Apple TV (via an 802.11n Belkin N1 router) did produce the occasional buffering hiccup--the source PC would need to be wired or upgraded to 11n wireless to guarantee smooth streaming--but once we synced to the Apple TV's hard drive, play was perfect.

Of course, iTunes and the Apple TV were always capable of HD streaming, but the big news here is that the HD content is available through the iTunes Store. (Previously, you needed to download the HD file--say, a high-definition trailer at Apple's Quicktime site--and then manually import it into iTunes.) Video podcasts are a nice first step, and the fact that they're free is always welcome. But we're hopeful this is a trial balloon that will signal the availability of high-definition movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store in the not too distant future.

Note: Since originally published, this blog post has been updated with hands-on analysis of the HD video performance on Apple TV.

With competing high-definition DVD standards HD DVD and Blu-ray, a clear line has been drawn in the sand. Major technology companies are beginning to line up with their support for one side or the other. But it won't necessarily be the Sonys or Microsofts of the world that determine the winner in this standards war. In the end, it may come down to an often overlooked technology influencer: the porn industry.

(Credit: CNET TV)

Adult film producers have a long history of being early adopters of new technology. When the porn industry pushed hard for VHS in the 1980s, Sony took a beating with its Beta Max standard. CNET's Rich DeMuro says the current battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray bares a striking resemblance to that format war. In a three-part video series, Rich looks at how the industry might again be the deciding factor that makes or breaks one of them.

By most accounts, the two standards look the same to the average viewer. So it may come down to which standard gets more support from movie studios, with consumers adopting whichever standard means they can view the movies they want.

Check out part one of the series on CNET TV. And for a detailed look at how the two standards compare, watch Veronica Belmont as she pits the two against each other in a Prizefight match-up.

As if heading up a ramp to Noah's ark, the Flash and DVD models move in pairs. Panasonic at least manages to differentiate the models a bit. The DVD-based HDC-DX1, announced this week, and the SD card-based HDC-SD1 (announced in late 2006), are the latest pair of AVCHD cancorders to get on the boat. Both incorporate a trio of 1/4-inch, 580K-pixel CCDs, a 12x zoom, and an optical image stabilizer. The DX1 has dual-layer support, as well as DVD-RAM capability.

The difference? Aside from some design tweaks made necessary by the different media support, the DX1 seems to have some kind of accessory shoe--at least, that what it looks like in the picture.

Both camcorders will ship in March, the HDC-DX1 for $1,399.95 and the HDC-SD1 for $1,499.95 (including a 4GB SD card).

Leave it to JVC to do something just a little bit different with its high-end consumer products. The company's Everio GZ-HD7, announced today at CES, has all the right creds: three progressive-scan 1/5-inch chips; a Fujinon HD broadcast lens; a hard disk capable of recording five hours of maximum-quality video; and a reasonable $1,799.95 price tag. JVC bills the GZ-HD7 as the first consumer model that records full HD video, which might be true; I could swear that Sony's AVCHD models record at the same 1920x1080 resolution, but I don't have time to check (and the Sony Web site is quite uninformative on this point). It's definitely the first 3CCD model. Regardless, first or not, it's a good thing.

But the company cut corners on the CCDs. First, they're really small. Second, each chip is a mere 976x548 pixels, using JVC's pixel shift technology to generate--dare I say "interpolate"?--it's vaunted "full" HD resolution. The jury on this one will have to remain sequestered until review units are available. The camcorder is slated to ship in April.