For starters I'm neither a videophile nor a audiophile. I'm just a consumer who likes high resolution images. I have a Vista media server connected to a sammy HLN 56" DLP and a Xbox 360 with the HD DVD drive add-on, all of which I'm very happy with. My day-to-day computer is a 15" 2.3ghz MacBook Pro, although I also have a win xp game box.

Anyway, point being I'm not hugely technical in video but I'm not a n00b in digital media either. So with a little spare cash and the holiday season here I decided to replace my 5 year old Sony Camcorder with a HD model. I read as many reviews as I could and evaluated the Sony and Canon models. I bought the Canon due to the fact I'm one of the few people who apparently prefer that form-factor, I thought it had better image stabilization (i really noticed the improvement on the Canon - assume that is the Optical stabilizer) and faster focussing. I can't speak on low-light comparisons, although the HV10 performs aproximately the same as my SD cam indoors, I haven't tried it in extreme low light yet.

So today I had my first trial run of the camera, taking it to the Aquarium with my 4 year old son. I haven't yet edited the footage on my Mac, but I couldn't wait so I hooked the camera up directly to my DLP via Component. In some of the footage the quality rivals the HDPBS broadcasts I get. I can certainly see areas for improvement (mostly in the cameraman though) but there were a couple scenes I was completely blown away. That such a small camera could deliver an image so clean and crisp is amazing.

i'll try and upload a few small clips - and I'm not knocking any other cameras, I'm sure they're all good, but just wanted to say if you're a home video/HD enthusiast you may be very happy with this unit.

Thanks for announcing your praise for this unit.
Many of us here are interested in getting this camera.

I am curious how good/bad that internal mic really is. The Canon HV10 has no additional input for an external mic, so you are bound to the manufacturer's choice and placement.

Is there any way you can maybe post an audio example from footage that you have shot?

I certainly agree with everything squirrel said regarding this cam's PQ. In fact I had the new Sony FX7 for a day (my friend's new unit), and the HV10 held up tremendously well to the much bigger and costlier FX7! In fact these 2 cameras could easily be intermixed with no problem at all. I don't recall ever seeing 2 cams that were so close in PQ....even 2 cams from the same manufacturer!

As to the onboard mike Rizman, I don't find it much different than any other small onboard mike on other cams. Sound is certainly fine for casual use. Would I say this is the cam to capture all the nuances of a live concert? Certainly not. But it's fine for its intended purpose, casual shooting with the finest PQ around!

I am curious how good/bad that internal mic really is.

Not that great. With its small size the mic on HV10 is located right next to the recording/playback head. As long as you have a tape in there its spinning all the time which makes a high pitch motor noise. It gets recorded on the footage easily if you are taping quiet scenes. It doesn't bother me though. Just part of the tradeoff of having a small size camcorder.

I am loving my HV10 as well. The onboard mic is as good as any other consumer handheld camcorder. For shooting family and friends and outside wildlife and so forth it works great.

Thanks for announcing your praise for this unit.
Many of us here are interested in getting this camera.

I am curious how good/bad that internal mic really is. The Canon HV10 has no additional input for an external mic, so you are bound to the manufacturer's choice and placement.

Is there any way you can maybe post an audio example from footage that you have shot?

Onboard Mic is pretty weak. I'll be using a digital audio recorder for anything I care about audio for. It's not horrible, so far it's inline with my other camcorder built in mic, but it'd be way better with a shoe or a mic jack. But for the price I'm totally ok with that issue. Just don't expect audio quality to equal the PQ.

I would love to buy a HV10 but whats holding me back is there is no easy way for me to connect the thing to my HDTV. Whats the point of spending the extra money for a HD camcorder unless you can actually watch the HD quality video on your HDTV? There is no HDMI connection available so the only way to connect it is through the proprietary component adapter cable provided. I just have no available component inputs left on my HDTV to leave the component adapter cable permanently connected in the back of the tv and because of the logistics of my setup there is just no simple/easy way for me to continually disconnect/reconnect my other equipments component connections on the back of the TV when I want to playback the cam hd video. If the camera had standard rca style cable connections then it would be easier for me to just temporarily disconnect one piece of equipment at the box to connect to the cam instead of having to get into the back of the TV. I have no component inputs on the side or front of my HDTV.

I just have no available component inputs left on my HDTV
This is a problem with your setup, not with the HV10. Take one of those component devices you have and upgrade it to an HDMI device - that would certainly do the trick.
One thing is certainly true, as time passes people will be needing more HDMI inputs, not component inputs. My SXRD has two HDMI inputs, and after hooking up a PS3 or an XBox along with a HTPC or perhaps a Blu-Ray player, I'm definitely running short on HDMI inputs! As for component, one thing I can say for sure is that as I walk the aisles of my favorite electronics store, I definitely see more component inputs on the front panel than HDMI inputs on the front panel.
It would be nice to have HDMI out on the HV10 because everyone on this forum has a closet issue with perfection, but in truth seeing as the video of the HV10 looks better through a component output than it's competitors do with an HDMI output, the output doesn't matter from a quality standpoint.
Frankly, I think the camera's output is moot. I rip the video to my PC and view the movies on my SXRD from there. No sense wearing out the tape drive or the heads...or the tape itself.

[QUOTE=eclipse2wd]This is a problem with your setup, not with the HV10. Take one of those component devices you have and upgrade it to an HDMI device - QUOTE]

I have two component inputs and one hdmi imput and all are spoken for with other "full service" equipment. I dont think I want to downgrade to composite to free up a component at this time. I guess I could invest in a component switcher that would expand the available component connections. That would be a cheaper temporary solution until I either bought a new HDTV with better options or a recordable HD DVD unit becomes available and can replace current SD equipment.

gvc, a component switcher is relatively inexpensive and is a 100% solution to your problem. You can add 4 or so component inputs with these switchers. There are many of them out there, just google them up.

It does have a firewire output for those people with a 1394 capable TV (Sony SXRDs and Mitsu DLPs for sure). Firewire should be even more true to the source than HDMI. Firewire passes the true MPEG-2 stream to the TV instead of already decoded via component or HDMI. The TV does the decoding, just as it would for an OTA broadcast.

It does have a firewire output for those people with a 1394 capable TV (Sony SXRDs and Mitsu DLPs for sure). Firewire should be even more true to the source than HDMI. Firewire passes the true MPEG-2 stream to the TV instead of already decoded via component or HDMI. The TV does the decoding, just as it would for an OTA broadcast.

This is very true, my Samsung 5679 LED has 2 Firewire inputs in its D-Network application and I have fed the same HDV content from the HV-10 thru component and Firewire and the Firewire feed has more detail, sharpness, and color density and contrast than the component feed, the component being softer and less contrasty.

This difference is not subtle, you can easily see it.
thanks,
Luis

Can anyone else who has used this camera speak to the image stabilization? I have a shake that requires this feature to work well. Thanks, Joe

gvc, a component switcher is relatively inexpensive and is a 100% solution to your problem. You can add 4 or so component inputs with these switchers. There are many of them out there, just google them up.Good advice from Ken. Have a look at this switcher gvc, I have two of them. http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/video/1154a.asp

Can anyone else who has used this camera speak to the image stabilization? I have a shake that requires this feature to work well. Thanks, Joe

On my test outing (afterward, I had to put it up until Christmas :) ), I thought it handled shake very well. I held it with both hands when I taped. Even video I made as I walked wasn't bad. As you'd expect, video when zoomed in max was more noticeably shakier.

JMO. You might want to see what others say before making your decision.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Good advice from Ken. Have a look at this switcher gvc, I have two of them. http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/video/1154a.asp

How do you like it? What is the best bang for your buck switcher? Say you don't need that many devices. Thank you.

I will be using the HV10 to record concerts...are their any good audio editing programs that I could use to make up for the internal mic of the HV10?

It does have a firewire output for those people with a 1394 capable TV
For those still paying attention to this thread, I wanted to say that using the iLink/Firewire port on the TV is the ONLY way to go. Wow! I hooked up my HV10 to my 2005 SXRD, and I absolutely loved how I could control the video with my TV remote! Fast forward, play, rewind, pause...all at my fingertips while never pulling the tiny HV10 remote out of the bag. I think both the Firewire and Component ports both look darn good, but even if the PQ comparison is a wash, the convenience difference is huge!

Oh, and using the iLink/Firewire port doesn't gobble up a component input. Plus, there is only one cable to connect rather than an audio cable and a Firewire cable.

For those still paying attention to this thread, I wanted to say that using the iLink/Firewire port on the TV is the ONLY way to go. Wow! I hooked up my HV10 to my 2005 SXRD, and I absolutely loved how I could control the video with my TV remote! Fast forward, play, rewind, pause...all at my fingertips while never pulling the tiny HV10 remote out of the bag. I think both the Firewire and Component ports both look darn good, but even if the PQ comparison is a wash, the convenience difference is huge!

Oh, and using the iLink/Firewire port doesn't gobble up a component input. Plus, there is only one cable to connect rather than an audio cable and a Firewire cable.

I'm considering this same camcorder which might marry up with my SXRD for this same reason since I also use that on my xbr1 SXRD with standard DV and yes, its pretty cool to just run the cam with the remote. Regretfully, I also noticed they dropped this 1394/iLink/Firewire port from the XBR2.

I'm using a dell 9300 notebook dvi-hdmi for my HTPC. You stated earlier you use your HTPC hookup for viewing. I tried VLC for viewing a lot of the test files people have uploaded and it looked decent.

What do you use for playback of the large HD files?

I got the HV10 for Christmas. Love it. Here's the problem. I have tried several formats after "dowloading" the HDV to the computer, nad cannot get the quality level that I have seen in the sample videos (both the Canon and the Japanese Guy). I'm using Ulead Video Studio 10 (PC). Is everyone using Mac, or is there a good format for PC?

I got the HV10 for Christmas. Love it. Here's the problem. I have tried several formats after "dowloading" the HDV to the computer, nad cannot get the quality level that I have seen in the sample videos (both the Canon and the Japanese Guy). I'm using Ulead Video Studio 10 (PC). Is everyone using Mac, or is there a good format for PC?

You should be able to get the same PQ as the samples. Mine comes out pretty much the same as those found on the websites. What is your workflow?

Mine is Vegas 7 for capturing HDV > VideoRedo for editing HDV> Ulead MF5 for authoring HDV into HDDVD> Nero 7 for burning HDV onto a DVD+R> Toshiba HD-A1 for playing the HDV.

I just got back from a Florida vacation and did quite a bit of shooting at Universal, Sea World etc. The results were just awesome....staggering! It is almost impossible for me to believe this tiny camera produces video of this high quality. I can't recall seeing much better video on HDNet! Colors, exposure, resolution and sharpness were just amazing. I've also never found any camcorder to have an autofocus anywhere near this level of accuracy. Amazing stuff!

You should be able to get the same PQ as the samples. Mine comes out pretty much the same as those found on the websites. What is your workflow?

Mine is Vegas 7 for capturing HDV > VideoRedo for editing HDV> Ulead MF5 for authoring HDV into HDDVD> Nero 7 for burning HDV onto a DVD+R> Toshiba HD-A1 for playing the HDV.

I am using ULead 10 for everything. I've burned DVDs as NTSC DVD 16X9 and they look fine on SD tv. However, for plain video files to play on the computer, none of the formats seem quite as good as those I've seen. There seems to be an interlacing problem when there is camera movement. Im not sure what that is from. I've tried MPEG-2 and 4, AVI, etc. I'll look at Vegas 7. Thanks.

How do you like it? What is the best bang for your buck switcher? Say you don't need that many devices. Thank you.


I like the following switcher because it looks good with other components on my rack. Sometimes it goes on sale at best buy for less than $100. They sell it for Xbox users but I use it for general component switching for my infocus projector. It lets you customize the lcd display and it has a remote, and is supported by logitech harmony remotes also. Switches component, several types of audio, and ethernet. I just use the component and audio features to switch between 8300hd, dvd player, pc with ATI-Component output, and HD-Camcorder.

Psyclone psc-01

You will have to google for it because this board won't let me put in a link yet.

Go to https://www.monoprice.com and buy an inexpensive component switch. I got mine a couple of days ago and its great. 4 in and one out...

3027 Port Component Video Switch w/ IR Learning 1 $33.50
2182 3FT 5-RCA Component Video/Audio Coaxial Cable (RG-59/U) 1 $3.27

Subtotal : $36.77
Shipping & Handling Cost : $9.00
GRAND TOTAL : $45.77

I just got back from a Florida vacation and did quite a bit of shooting at Universal, Sea World etc. The results were just awesome....staggering! It is almost impossible for me to believe this tiny camera produces video of this high quality. I can't recall seeing much better video on HDNet! Colors, exposure, resolution and sharpness were just amazing. I've also never found any camcorder to have an autofocus anywhere near this level of accuracy. Amazing stuff!

Hey Ken. I too am simple at a loss for the quality of this little camera. Did you bring a tripod with you on your vacation?
I too am going to be going to Florida in October and will be bringing the camera.
Please let me know.
t.

One thing is for certain, this camera is the best HD camcorder on earth right now. No one will be able to tell the difference in quality between Component and HDMI unless a new version of the HV-10 becomes available with an HDMI that is version 1.3 with 32 bit color or something amazing like that. HDMI offers only one advantage, Audio and Video over the same cable. I have a very close friend who calibrates HDTVs for a living. He has done calibrations for Denver Nuggets and Broncos so he knows his stuff. Even he is at a loss for words with how amazing the HV-10 is. He now ones two of them and has sold probably 20 of them to clients.
It is simple a wonder of the world.