Alright so I shot some more low-light footage tonight with the HV20 to see how I could reduce noise levels. This is what I found reduces noise levels significantly:

1) Set program mode to Cinema Mode (not 24p)
2) Set to custom image settings and set it to sharpness -1, brightness -1 and contrast -1

Doing this will greatly reduce video noise and give you a much more pleasing image.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Persiannight,

I was under the impression from the reveiwers that using the 24p mode would improve low light performance and that is what I have been using when indoors. CCI's tests show that 24p improves low light performance significantly. It does seem to improve, but I am jus not sure what impact it will have on anything else like artifacts or just the look of the video in general.

What are your thoughts?

Well, in 24p you'll notice that the video has a "stutter" like effect because it is essentially 24 frames per second instead of 60 fields per second (30 frames per second).