Apart from the first camcorder, no other video camera has enjoyed this much buzz. And there’s a good reason for that: Red Digital Cinema’s “Red One” is the first true HD camcorder with a reasonable price tag ($17,500 or therabouts, body only), which undercuts current models by tens of thousands of dollars. Weighing in at a slender 9 pounds and delivering something like five times the amount of information available per second compared to standard (heavier and pricier) HD camcorders, “Red One” means that even indie film-makers can now work in HD.

It’s a steal: no, really. The technology is so hot that baddies broke into Red’s headquarters in 2006 and stole documentation and a prototype model.

Trivia: the guy behind Red One is Jim Jannard, who founded Oakley sunglasses.

Red One is available now at Red.com.