The GZ-HD40 is JVC’s latest top-of-the-line high-definition Everio hard disk drive camcorder. It represents a considerable step forward for the company. For the first time, JVC has switched from CCD sensors to CMOS sensors, which significantly improved performance in our testing. Also, after supporting only MPEG-2 TS recording in previous models, the GZ-HD40 now supports both MPEG-2 TS and AVCHD, the compression standard du jour for consumer camcorders. MPEG-2 TS offers superior video quality but isn't supported by some editing software, and takes up a lot of hard drive space.