TOKYO -- It's a great time to be in Japan. The cold winter weather is almost gone, and the cherry blossoms, the heralds of spring, are on the verge of opening.

It's a time of change as the school year begins and new employees join companies, forcing many to relocate for their new careers. With this comes the first big sales chance of the year for Japan's consumer electronics makers--after all, if you're moving, why not take the opportunity to update that 15-year-old CRT television with a sleek LCD model?

I'm most excited about Sony's latest high-definition camcorder. The company's been ahead of the pack in bringing HD home video to the consumer. I had the chance to try out its latest model, the HDR-HC3, for a few days, and it worked great. I got quite a kick out of watching content that was of better quality than the images being put out on conventional TV broadcasts.

But beware: Being on the bleeding edge of technology can bring annoyances, although the one I encountered wasn't Sony's fault. The video camera records to HDV, which is a relatively new format, so I had to upgrade a copy of Apple iMovie on my Mac before the computer would recognize the camera and import the video. The import was slow, with my two-year-old Apple iMac typically processing the HDV tape at one-quarter speed. Editing also seemed a little slow because of the volume of data involved.

A word of caution to anyone considering making the jump to HD and then editing the footage on a computer: Make sure your machine is up to the job. It might require investment in a computer that is more expensive than the camcorder. For another take on upgrading to HD, read PC World contributor Richard Baguley's January "Making Movies."

Sony HDV Camcorder

For the second time in less than a year, Sony has shrunk the size of its consumer high-definition camcorder. Compared to its predecessor, the HDR-HC1, the HDR-HC3 is smaller and lighter by 26 percent, thanks to continued miniaturization of the lens unit and main components.

Like the last camcorder, the HDR-HC3 records in the HDV format on standard MiniDV tapes. The HDR-HC3 uses one of Sony's recently launched ClearVid CMOS image sensors and can take 4-megapixel photos even while video is being recorded. It has a High-Definition Multimedia Interface output, a new feature. (The slimmed-down, USB-like HDMI connector is easier to handle than a DVI connector, and it delivers both digital video and digital audio--a welcome simplification for home entertainment systems.)

The HDR-HC3 is on sale now in Japan and will be available outside Japan starting in April, says Sony. It will cost around $1354 in Japan and $1700 in the U.S.

Sharp VGA Cell Phone

While the resolution in mobile-phone cameras continues to improve, the display resolution has been stuck at QVGA (240 by 320 pixels) for the last couple of years. Now this is changing: Sharp has developed for Vodafone the first handset with a VGA screen (480 by 640 pixels).

The Sharp 904SH also has another cool feature: facial recognition. This security feature unlocks the phone when it successfully matches the user's face to that registered in its memory, thus replacing the PIN or fingerprint authentication sometimes found in other phones. Should light be low and such identification not possible, the phone defaults to a PIN system. It's nice to know that Sharp thought of that, or using the phone at nighttime could get very frustrating.

The Sharp 904SH is due on sale in Japan in April, but no price has been set.

Sony Blu-ray Disc Player

Sony has finally stepped up to the plate and put a price on its BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc player. The device will cost around $1000 and go on sale in the U.S. in July. The player's video output will have 1080 lines of resolution and progressive scanning. This is dubbed "full HD" and is the highest of several video formats considered high-definition.

As a concession to content providers, full high-definition output will be available only via an HDMI connector that supports copy protection. Owners of TV sets without an HDMI connector will be able to watch an interlaced version of the 1080-line signal, the second-highest rank of high-definition picture. That's just one of the concessions you might have to make in the bold new world of high-definition video; read Senior Associate Editor Melissa Perenson's March "Burning Questions" for more.

Samsung 10-Megapixel Camera Phone

A new cell phone from Samsung Electronics further blurs the line between digital cameras and mobile phones.

The SCH-B600 boasts a 10-megapixel camera with a 3X optical zoom. From one side, the SCH-B600 looks like a conventional cell phone; from the other, it looks like a digital camera. It's the latest in a line of phones from the company that seeks to combine camera functions equivalent to a conventional digital still camera with a cell phone. It will go on sale in South Korea in the second quarter of this year. No price has been announced.

Sony PSP Video Encoder

If you've messed around with getting video onto your Sony PlayStation Portable, you know what a hassle it can be. First you have to record the video from TV or perhaps rip it from a DVD, and then you go through a time-consuming encoding process to change it into the particular MPEG-4 variant that the PSP accepts.

Well, worry no more (if you live in Japan, that is). Sony is releasing the MSVR-A10, a stand-alone device that encodes video from a composite video or S-video signal directly into MPEG-4, and then stores it on a Memory Stick Pro Duo card. Then you're set for watching video on your PSP. The device will be available in Japan for about $173; there's no word on international sales plans.

Panasonic 5-Megapixel Digital Camera

Thinking ahead to this year's vacation season, Panasonic has a new digital camera that is both compact and can help you keep your snaps in order. The DMC-TZ1 will group images into sets for each day of a vacation so that a trip can more easily be followed day by day.

The DMC-TZ1 is the smallest digital camera available to offer a 10X optical zoom, according to Panasonic, and it produces 5-megapixel images. It will go on sale in Japan on March 24 for about $380. It will be available in Asia, Europe and the U.S. in April, the company said, but pricing for overseas markets wasn't available.

Samsung 8GB Music Phone

Samsung Electronics will launch a Windows Mobile-based cell phone that packs an 8GB hard drive, hitting European markets in the second half of 2006. The SGH-i310 is centered around music functions, but it also includes a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth printing, and a video output connector. No price or further launch details were available.

Sharp 65-Inch Monitor

If you like to work on a roomy computer desktop, you may like Sharp's 65-inch wide-screen LCD monitor. Based on one of the company's Aquos LCD televisions, the PN-655 offers several features typically found in televisions, although there is no tuner.

The screen has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, which is the same as high-definition television and less than that offered by some competing, but smaller, monitors. Connectivity options include DVI and HDMI, and there is picture-in-picture capability. The PN-655 goes on sale in Japan in late March and will cost around $17,000, the company said. Sharp is considering offering it overseas but has yet to make any definite plans.

R&D Corner: Toshiba and Canon SED TVs

Toshiba and Canon have been researching a new flat-panel television technology called SED (for "surface-conduction electron-emitter display") for more than 20 years. The companies now say the technology should be ready for commercialization in 2007.

SED can produce pictures that are as bright as CRTs, use as much as one-third less power than equivalent-size plasma display panels, and don't have the slight time delay sometimes seen with other flat-panel displays, according to the companies. The companies' intention is to build up to full-scale sales in time for the Beijing Olympics. But take that time-frame with a pinch of salt: The original plan was to have SED TVs on sale in 2005.

Martyn Williams is Tokyo bureau chief for the IDG News Service, a consortium of IDG publications.