We got a quick look at JVC's new AVCHD camcorders earlier this week, the GD-HD40, GZ-HD30 and GZ-HD10. Of note, the HD40 comes complete with a dock for extra hookups like FireWire, and the HD40 and HD30 can shoot video in MPEG-2 for higher quality and easier editing.

JVC has done some serious work on noise reduction on all of the cameras, but from the samples shown, it comes at the cost of detail -- some of the vids we saw looked more like watercolors or 3-D renders than true video. Hopefully that's something you'll be able to configure to your liking, and we're glad JVC is leaving MPEG-2 on here to avoid compression that might exacerbate the problem further. That said, most users are going to be very pleased with the kind of color and low noise they can get at night or in badly-lit rooms.

The cameras are certainly small for their feature sets, but at about a pound apiece, they feel pretty heavy for their size. Otherwise the build is standard JVC fare -- not too fancy, not too plain. We also got a chance to peep some over JVC's other new consumer gear, so check it out the gallery.

Contrary to popular belief, plenty of high-quality camcorders -- even HD ones -- are available for less than $500. We test drove a bunch of them, and discovered that we liked some better than others. You can check out our top picks in the video above, and our list of favorites includes a range of recording formats including Mini-DV, flash memory, DVD and hard drive-based.

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