Advanced Video Codec High Definition, a joint development between Panasonic and Sony,

It has an AVC video codec based on the MPEG-4 and Dolby Digital (AC-3) or linear PCM audio coding, born for the high-definition consumer market with 1080i and 720p formats.

The MPEG-4 AVC is about twice as effective as MPEG-2 encoding, used in HDV and MiniDV, offers longer recording times with the same media or higher image quality, or both.