Sony’s high definition camcorders will be taking two routes for the time being.

Its 1080i HD AVC camcorders record directly onto an internal hard disk drive or DVD, using Mpeg4. The AVC system was developed with Panasonic, it will take a similar route with its camcorders.

The Sony AVC HDR-SR1E has a 30GB hard disk, which doesn’t sound like much, but it records 242 minutes, 442 minutes or 10 hours of footage, depending on the quality setting chosen. That may be restrictive if on holiday, but there’s no reason, other than to keep the cost down, that it can’t put in a bigger hard disk.

The 30GB version costs about £1,000, which makes it a high-end purchase for camcorders. And right now, it’s mainly high-end enthusiasts that think HD when recording family and friends (although we wonder how many people buy HD camcorders and hook them to CRTs and think they are getting an HD picture).

It comes with Nero to burn footage to DVD – Blu-ray being the choice Sony hopes consumers make (and at the moment that’s the only HD choice until recordable HD-DVD disks hit the market). Footage can be dragged and dropped in both directions between a computer and camcorder.

The high def DVD alternative, the HDR-UX1E, records straight to an 8cm DVD that can then be played in a Blu-ray or PC drive. DVD camcorders are expected to initially attract consumers, because the disk can be taken straight from the device and played in a PC or Blu-ray drive. But longer term, it expects the HDD versions to become the camcorder of choice.