cwood
04-10-07, 09:29 PM
I just spent my first day with the HV20, shooting raw footage for a dealer training tape for a company in Portland. Here are my observations, for what they're worth.
>Video is unbelievable and certainly sets a new standard in the entry level HDcamcorder category. Just based on my eyes, the low light performance rivals, if not equals, that of my SONY VX2000. I have no regrets for the moment about not spending $4000 to surpass the video quality of the HV20.
>The video does not looks as sharp or clean as the best 1080i that I've seen but for all practical purposes, with good lighting or outdoors, it equals most 720P live that I've seen off of satellite.
>Audio output levels for headphone is low. Even my relatively high sensitivity Shure stage monitor phones were low in output.
>Built-in mic is not sufficient for any professional use. I used a Sennheiser wireless system and had no overload problems.
>Output audio from the so-called built in speaker is not high enough or adequate in fidelity for any reasonable function or monitoring purpose.
>Some functions should be programmable and are lost when turning off the machine.
>For a low res display, the outboard 16:9 LCD looks surprisingly good for what it is and is also reasonably accurate in color rendition when viewed directly on.
>Battery life was ok although not great. I was able to get about 45 minutes of raw footage before it was time for a recharge but the machine 'idled' for long periods and the display was almost always on. The HV20 also accepts the current batteries from Canon's EOS digital SLRs.
>Big mistake in not providing an IR sensor on the backside. The remote control should have an attachment capability to the handle of a fluid mount and even better, a minijack to hardwire the remote to the machine. Then you would have the makings of a reasonably functional control system. The remote control is far easier to use than the same buttons on the machine, spead all over the body.
>The bottom of the line SONY 'premium' tape works just fine!
In spite of my nitpicks, when I look at the video, all is forgiven.
Charles
>Video is unbelievable and certainly sets a new standard in the entry level HDcamcorder category. Just based on my eyes, the low light performance rivals, if not equals, that of my SONY VX2000. I have no regrets for the moment about not spending $4000 to surpass the video quality of the HV20.
>The video does not looks as sharp or clean as the best 1080i that I've seen but for all practical purposes, with good lighting or outdoors, it equals most 720P live that I've seen off of satellite.
>Audio output levels for headphone is low. Even my relatively high sensitivity Shure stage monitor phones were low in output.
>Built-in mic is not sufficient for any professional use. I used a Sennheiser wireless system and had no overload problems.
>Output audio from the so-called built in speaker is not high enough or adequate in fidelity for any reasonable function or monitoring purpose.
>Some functions should be programmable and are lost when turning off the machine.
>For a low res display, the outboard 16:9 LCD looks surprisingly good for what it is and is also reasonably accurate in color rendition when viewed directly on.
>Battery life was ok although not great. I was able to get about 45 minutes of raw footage before it was time for a recharge but the machine 'idled' for long periods and the display was almost always on. The HV20 also accepts the current batteries from Canon's EOS digital SLRs.
>Big mistake in not providing an IR sensor on the backside. The remote control should have an attachment capability to the handle of a fluid mount and even better, a minijack to hardwire the remote to the machine. Then you would have the makings of a reasonably functional control system. The remote control is far easier to use than the same buttons on the machine, spead all over the body.
>The bottom of the line SONY 'premium' tape works just fine!
In spite of my nitpicks, when I look at the video, all is forgiven.
Charles