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Well, the current leader for best performance is the Canon HV20 from last year, but it is tape based. The next generation of non-tape is coming out, but all the reviews aren’t in. Here’s a list of the top contenders for high definition and non-tape with a major hat tip ot Camcorderinfo.com:

• Canon Vixia HF-10. This uses SDHC cards so you get 16GB on the camcorder and 16GB in the flash card. It has good low light performance and very natural color. The main knocks are that its image stabilization isn’t super so you have to have a tripod or a steady hand and 16GB only stores about 60 minutes or so of High Definition so you have to swap the cards alot rather than leave them on the camcorder forever. It uses AVCHD which is getting better.

• Sony HDR-SR12. Not yet reviewed, but this is the likely number two depending on image quality. It is a 120GB hard drive camcorder.

  As an aside both of these have somewhat cheaper models that have no onboard flash and a 60GB hard drive respectively called the HF100 and the SR11.

  There are two also rans that I can’t really recommend:

• JVC Everio GZ-HD6. This has really great image stabilization, but for most normal folks, it uses a strange format called MPEG2 TS that doesn’t have any editors for it. The best things are great image stabilization and it has a 120GB hard disk that can store 300 minutes of full HD. I can’t really recommend it to non-afictionados because editing is such a pain already.

• Panasonic HDC-SD9. It is AVCHD, but doesn’t have the picture quality of the HF-10.