Canon HV20

[Paul LS]

I dont recall now where I read about a successor for the HV20. May be worth waiting a bit... but the thing is you can go on and on waiting forever, always thinking something better will come out. Need to jump in with both feet at some stage. As Chuck has said the HV20 is a good camcorder... however gotta think the next model must be coming out shortly.

[Judy]

Well, my "need" for a new lighter weight camcorder than my current by 8-year old TRV900 is a trip to India we're taking in January. I would want to make sure I know how to use it before the trip...we leave January 11th. Of course, there's nothing wrong with the TRV900, and I could end up taking that if I'm unsure about the purchase.

Judy

[jackfalbey]

I don't know if you'd call it a successor as much as a partially-improved sibling, but the HG10 is a 40GB hard-drive-based HV20. The review at camcorderinfo.com http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Ca ... -33146.htm indicates improved handling and controls over the HV20 but poorer video quality because of the AVCHD compression. Dell has the HG10 for about $35 more than the HV20 right now http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/cate ... s&~ck=anav, I suppose it all depends on your needs. For my business, I'm thinking about getting an HV20 for B-roll footage. At $899, I don't think you can go wrong.

[Chuck Engels]

One of the guys I edit wedding for just bought a HV20 for B-Roll footage and loves it.
The only problem about the hard drive camcorder is that Premiere Elements can't capture from it, and you can't archive back to tape if that is the only camera you have. I'll stick to the tape thank you very much

Jack, if you check around you can get the HV20 for under $800 and free shipping

[Bob D]

Just out of curiosity, if the HV20 is good, why is it relegated to b-roll... why not a-roll?

[Paul LS]

One reason is "customer perception"... if someone is paying for a wedding video to be shot, for example, seeing the videographer using a small handheld cam does not give a good impression no matter how good the picture quality is. This is why Sony are introducing the HD1000 , it is basically the comsumer HC7 cam in a shoulder mount body targeting the wedding videographers & commercial videographers market... it's price is under $2,000
See this thread in sonyhdvinfo for more details and pictures:
http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com/showthread.p ... ge=1&pp=10

[jackfalbey]

I'm with Chuck on the hard-drive cameras... AVCHD just has too many drawbacks for professional work. I'll stick with MiniDV until solid-state is more affordable with a less-compressed codec.

Jack, if you check around you can get the HV20 for under $800 and free shipping

But if I order from Dell, I can charge it to my Dell Business Account

My PD170 is A-roll because it looks more "pro" and has XLR inputs. Since I'm not delivering HD to my clients at this time, the HV20 would be used for SD "off-the-cuff" coverage.

The HVR-HD1000U looks interesting http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/ ... 31159.html and http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/So ... -33224.htm but it's only a 1-chip system. B&H is taking pre-orders for it for $1899 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... ORDER.html

[Chuck Engels]

Just out of curiosity, if the HV20 is good, why is it relegated to b-roll... why not a-roll?

As Paul and Jack have put it so well, perception is the only real reason.

[Ken Jarstad]

Just learning to use my new HV20. I immediately found that the full Auto TV mode produces unacceptable images. The image artifacting was horrendous! I found this topic on DVI forum:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=106983 And now have switched rather permanently to using Cinemode with Color and Contrast bumped to +1. LNow the images look quite impressive.

Since I am 6 feet 3 inches tall I have larger hands. However I don't seem to have a problem running the camera controls as some have reported. Also some have reported that the camcorder is very cheap feeling and "plasticy" but I don't get that impression at all.

The only app I have for creating a DVD from these hi-def images right now is Nero v8 - Nerovision. Still no response from Main Concept about their plugin not installing correctly.

[Ken Jarstad]

I have finally proven to myself that we can make better quality standard DVDs from HDV sources.

Finally, using the Cinemode setting on this camcorder and using Nero Vision, part of v8, I was able to produce a short standard-def DVD from the .m2t files captured in HDVSplit. The Cinemode setting is important for producing artifact-free video. I will now say that the standard-def DVDs played in an upconverting DVD player to a 32 inch HDTV look better than it played in a std-def DVD player on a SDTV.

I don't think we have been able to make them this good before - and we won't be able to top it until hi-def burners and players are common-place. Nero downrezes the HDV pretty well but I haven't tried using VirtualDub yet.

[Judy]

Hi Everyone,

Well, after much contemplation, I finally purchased the HV20 this evening. Amazon has a pretty good deal...$779 with an excellent return policy (until January 31st). For only $5.99 they are delivering it tomorrow!

I hope I'll have time to fiddle with the settings and do some taping for Thanksgiving when the whole family is together.

Can anyone summarize the best settings to use? Should I put it on the Cinemode?

Thanks.

Judy

[Ken Jarstad]

Hi Judy. Sounds like you got a good deal! Good for you. I got free shipping but had to pay my state tax, so my total was nearly $900.

As far as what mode to suggest, I don't know any more. My first footage was morning sun shining through the woods and bushes outside our rural home. The high contrast caused lots of easily noticeable motion artifacts as I slowly panned the camera around. I found that for some situations this camcorder is just too darn sharp! In that situation the Cine mode reduces contrast, sharpness and prevents loss of detail in dark areas and blown-out bright areas.

Just this evening I used it for my first church event - a quarterly women's dinner, skit and speaker. In fiddling around with the camera, trying to get more familiar with the functions, I forgot (!) to switch back to Cine mode and found I had recorded in Program AE instead. And just now, I have been playing back the footage with an HDMI cable connected to my 15 inch HDTV edit monitor - it's almost unbelievable how clear everything is! And very little bothersome artifacting.

So you'll just have to experiment - and perhaps we can exchange tips about what we discover. For instance, I tried the two flourescent light modes but found the auto white-balance was much preferrable in the the flourescent lighting of the fellowship hall. I am used to a Hi8 camcorder having background video noise, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the ladies' skit under subdued lighting had no objectionable video noise at all This is astonishing for someone who has insisted upon taking hours to "scrape and hone" analog video with a noise reduction filter.

The "look" of this diminutive cam may make folks think it can't be impressive but there are a lot of pros on the DVI forum that pick these up for personal use because they just can't believe the pictures it makes. As you may have guessed, I am totally impressed with my new small wonder.

[Judy]

Now that I have the camcorder in hand, I've played around with a little bit of recording (a few seconds here and there) and seeing how best to capture it and then be able to edit it.

I am taking a Culinary Tour of India in January (for two weeks) and am wondering if anyone has some recommended settings that I could use for the camcorder. I wanted to make it somewhat automated, since I also have a still camera and will be using that as well. Fiddling with too many settings can lead to "losing the moment."

I tried the settings that Ken suggested and them seem to be rather nice...the colors a little warmer than with it all automatic.

What do you think?

Thanks.

Judy

[Ken Jarstad]

Here is an interesting topic for you. Read or skim the whole thing - 37 posts as of now. After much discussion, by post #37 the OP discovers that the camcorder will work just fine if he turns down the sharpness.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=106983

Make sure you get more familiar with your camcorder controls before you depend on it for irreplaceble footage.

The HV20, along with some other similar cams, seems to have a reputation for having too much sharpness. This can be be turned down a notch and the images will still be spectacular.

The "Cine" mode has the advantage of avoiding burned out highlights and lost details in shadow areas. If the images look somewhat flat during editing it is very easy to bump them up a bit. Note that it is impossible to do it the other way around.

[Judy]

Hi Everyone,

Well, I'm working on becoming familiar with my HV20 before leaving for India. I found a very useful DVD made by JumpstartGuides.com on the HV20. It's packed full of information and presents it in a digestable format. Even when you know quite a bit about the camera, there's always something more (at least for me) to learn. BHPhotoVideo.com sells it for $24.95.

Judy