I have a question...I just received my HG10 today. I took it out to use and noticed that the recording was VERY grainy in indoor light. It almost looked like static. Even in well lit rooms it still didn't look like it was HD at all. I almost want to say my last miniDV cam looked better.

The reason why I ask if this is possibly because of the indoor lighting is that I ordered it from Amazon and they shipped it in a HUGE box with NO packing material. None at all! The HG10 box was free to bounce around inside this huge box. I am not exagerating when I tell you the box it was packed in was 20x13x12 (the HG10 box is 8x7x7) Ridiculous!

Am I expecting too much? After reading all the reviews I thought this would be the best bang for the buck ($699 at Amazon) If this is normal picture quality then whatever, I will be very disappointed with this camcorder. Part of me thinks that the cam may have been damaged from bouncing around in the box since there are scuff marks on the canon box and one of the corners of the box was dented. I have already filed a complaint with amazon for a replacement sent overnight.

What do you all think? Are my expectations too high or do you think I have a damaged dud? Thanks...

I don't think your expectations are too high, the difference between the miniDV and ANY HD camcorder is night and day. The HG10 should produce a picture better than Directv HD (well, this is not too difficult...). One thing you should keep in mind, though: Lighting is everything when shooting HD. The new HD cameras are fantastic but they are not professional grade. The new sensors are too small to allow for a great quality in low light rooms.

Get a replacement, the HG10 IS a great camera.

Sergio

Get some outdoor video, during the day. If it looks good to you, then the camera is probably just as it should be.

With most indoor lighting, you will not be impressed by HD-quality video.

Indoor HD on the HG10 (and others) is not impressive at all. it just can't do it well. as PassedPawn said, try it outside and if it's good, then your HG10 is fine.

My indoor on the HG10 is very grainy

Thanks for your responses everyone. I just received my replacement from Amazon...what a difference! The first camera was definitely damaged from their shipping it with out any packing material. This replacement is exactly what you have all described and I have read about.

Once again thanks!

I have a question...I just received my HG10 today. I took it out to use and noticed that the recording was VERY grainy in indoor light. It almost looked like static. Even in well lit rooms it still didn't look like it was HD at all.

The reason why I ask if this is possibly because of the indoor lighting is that I ordered it from Amazon and they shipped it in a HUGE box with NO packing material. None at all!

Am I expecting too much? After reading all the reviews I thought this would be the best bang for the buck ($699 at Amazon) If this is normal picture quality then whatever, I will be very disappointed with this camcorder. Part of me thinks that the cam may have been damaged from bouncing around in the box since there are scuff marks on the canon box and one of the corners of the box was dented. I have already filed a complaint with amazon for a replacement sent overnight.

What do you all think? Are my expectations too high or do you think I have a damaged dud? Thanks...

LOL. I think I got yours from Amazon yesterday, because I am thoroughly unimpressed with the HD... is it supposed to make a difference if you are playing it directly off the camcorder, vs. playing on a blue-ray player (for example)???

I'll take it outside tomorrow for more testing, but damn this looks like crap.

LOL. I think I got yours from Amazon yesterday, because I am thoroughly unimpressed with the HD... is it supposed to make a difference if you are playing it directly off the camcorder, vs. playing on a blue-ray player (for example)???

I'll take it outside tomorrow for more testing, but damn this looks like crap.

I've had the new cam for a few weeks now and I have to say that it looks great.

The defective one was awful. in darker rooms it was very static/grainy. My new one hasn't done that. Of course any low light situation is going to have an effect, but not as dramatic as the defective cam! Be carefull, in the day time it looked fine so if you think that the low light quality is terrible then maybe you do have a defective one. Call amazon and get a replacement. Good luck...

LOL. I think I got yours from Amazon yesterday, because I am thoroughly unimpressed with the HD... is it supposed to make a difference if you are playing it directly off the camcorder, vs. playing on a blue-ray player (for example)???

I'll take it outside tomorrow for more testing, but damn this looks like crap.

By playing it directly from the camcorder you can eliminate any issues you may have had when encoding the video to a DVD that you play on a BR player. If it doesn't look good from the cam, something must be wrong. The HD from the HG10 is very good.

...Call amazon and get a replacement. Good luck...

By playing it directly from the camcorder you can eliminate any issues you may have had when encoding the video to a DVD that you play on a BR player. If it doesn't look good from the cam, something must be wrong....

Thanks for the info/advice... the quality is just strange... as ProvidenceLeaf said, I do expect some graininess in low light, but the main issue is it looks like the lens is 10% covered in dust or something... I'm not sure how to explain it... it is different than the low light noise that I can also see. Does any one know if this is a common defect (i.e. do say 5% of HD camcorders ship with sensors that record like this? I can't imagine that simply dropping it would cause problems like this... and I have to give a "reason" for the return, other than it looks like crap).

Thanks.

Edit: After testing today, indoor w/ sunlight and outdoors, the picture quality improved immensely... so now I really do wonder... is there a factory defect that would make one particular HG10 worse than another in low light? Would it really perform so good in sunlight if it were "damaged"? Uggh. I really need this to work in two weeks... I don't know what to do.

Received my HG10 yesterday, indoor low light performance isn't that great - but outdoors, in sun, or in a brightly lit room, the quality of this camera is FANTASTIC. I really wish it did better indoors in low light...

I'm currently having problems with connecting the HG10 to my TV, Samsung LN-T4042H (720p) via HDMI. The TV is says there is no signal but I know the camcorders output and HDMI cord are working fine because it connects fine to my friend's TV. Anybody know what could be wrong? Thanks.

Common sense should have told you right away the cam was broken

Common sense should have told you right away the cam was broken
huh? what do you mean?
the cam+hdmi+friend's tv=working
the cam+hdmi+his tv=not working
how could you possibly know that the cam is broken? more likely it is an hdmi handshake issue (but not guaranteed).

Canon manual states that some TVs will not allow play of home made HD video over an HDCP connection. I have a Samsung too and use component.