Canon HG20 Owners Thread

Great Camcorder , cheaper than HF11 , why ?? I don't know .
Can record movies on 60GB Hard Drive and SDHC card as well .
Probably the best camcorder for this money.

Has anyone had experience recording MX (highest resolution) video directly to the SDHC card? I know Canon's website said that it's possible to record video to the card, but it doesn't mention at which bit rate. I called Canon and spoke to a knowledgable tech and he wasn't sure that it was even possible to record video to the SDHC card.

I am trying to copy the video to the card and then watch it on a Panasonic Bluray player.

Thanks!

John

I recorded with the camera set @ MXP to the card.

The HG20 is designed to record @ a maximum of 24mbps/MXP setting, whether it's onto the hard drive or SDHC card.

Got it thanks and confirmed on page 32 of the manual.

Hi recently purchased the Canon HG20. I also have a Dell Dimension 4600 2.6ghz with hyperthreading with a 19" Ultrasharp LCD and an AGP video card with 64MB ram on it. When I try to watch a previous recorded MXP 1920x1080 video footage on the computer using the supplied software, the video is extremely choppy...

I think my PC is fast enough, but is it possible my LCD can't handle the 1920x1080 resolution. I have it connected using a DVI cable but I think the native resolution is something like 1460x1024... Is it my video card?

Please help

the lcd probably doesn't have enough resolution, but the real problem is that you need a fast 4-core machine to play back native avchd, because it's very cpu intensive... unless you have something like nero showtime, which works well with my intel 6750 dual-core... i think that showtime is designed to utilize the video card for decoding, but that's only a guess.

There were a couple of posts in this thread that I deleted - I had been over concerned about recording to the hard drive while in a crowded place, (tpuzio's third post refers to my post about "normal bump").

I removed them because I felt it wasn't fair to present that scenario without any real evidence or information; I don't want to discourage anyone from getting this camera. Anyway, the SD card can always be used if need be.

I was also entertaining the possibility of getting an HF11 instead. I am now considering the fact that the extra $200 could be used towards accessories for the HG20.

When you say 768MB ram, is that your computer memory or the RAM on the video card? What speed is your computer too? Mine is a 2.4Ghz with hyper threading and I have an ATI AGP 64mb All in One 9000 PRO video card.

I agree with tpuzio..I think you should invest a little on a new computer. 64MB GFX will seriously cause you pain and suffering!! AGP is really outdated. o.O

On another note. I'm looking to get my Dad the HG20.
Pretty new into the camcorder scene, hopefully we can get more ppl posting in here.

For the people who already have it, can you possibly list your likes/dislikes about the cam?

I'll probably end up doing editing for my Dad as he doesn't have time to learn all that jazz~

Any advice-info would be great

i don't know that the agp bus is going to hold you back, but the cpu will.

i've been trying to edit 24Mbps avchd on my 3.0 ghz p4 laptop, and it's practically impossible, lol... it won't even hardly play raw avchd back with nero or coreavc.

hey, nightfall... I have the HG20..

Likes:
-Solid camcorder/feels like a movie camera, not a toy
-Many connections options; HDMI, mic input +
-Very good auto focus
-Well-organized and easy to understand menu layout
-Almost everything can be controlled via the wireless remote vs. the joystick on the camera
-Can record to both the hard drive and SD flash memory slot
-Audio meter and mic attenuator
-Excellent video quality


Dislikes:
-The image is bigger in the final video than what you see on the LCD
-There's a hard drive, with moving parts inside the camcorder

The first like about it being like a movie camera could be viewed as a negative because it's somewhat bulky as opposed to the flash memory cams that someone would be able to just quickly take out and start shooting. You can do that, it's just the HG20 is a bit bulkier.

I really can't think of any other negatives right now, but the potential issue with moving parts hard drives is a concern. The potential issue being if the camera were moved too much or if it were bumped, etc. As stated earlier, I don't really know if this is a fair assessment; yet I am still concerned about it.

I have considered getting the HF11 instead, with the internal flash memory.
I was reading how the president of Samsung was saying that an internal flash drive was impossible to expire the amount of writes it can make during the life of the device because it uses different parts of the flash memory. If one part went bad -there are others to be utilized...
But, he did say there is a possibility of a failure of the controller inside the flash memory drive on an internal flash drive...
I don't know how common this is, I'm thinking that it's less likely than a hard drive failure...but maybe someone else can weigh in on these scenarios...

If there were ever actually a failure in the hard drive - you would still be able to use the SD card slot; or, if it's cheap enough; have it serviced and replaced.

Anyway, the HG20 is a really nice camcorder.

What's the native file format of the HG20?

Just ordered the HG20 from B&H. Arrival date is supposed to be 12/2. Can't wait. Now I just need to get a couple of 16GB SDHC cards, a camcorder bag, and possibly an external mic and I will be set for a while. Anyone recommend an external mic for this camcorder? I'm considering the following mics:

Rode Stereo VideoMic
Rode VideoMic
Sennheiser MKE-400
Canon DM-100

Regards.

Jason

Has anyone with an HG20 and a PS3 tried hooking the HG20 to the PS3 via USB to see if you can play back HD video from the hard drive?

A related question: can you take the SDHC card out of any of the Canon HD camcorders and place it in the PS3 (or in a TV) to watch the HD video?

Or is the only way to watch videos on my HDTV by burning discs?

And lastly, can you copy video clips from the hard drive to the card and from the card to the hard drive? (Edit: The Canon web site http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...delFeaturesAct just confirmed that you can copy in both directions!)

Edit: Stupid me! I didn't even think about just hooking up the suplied component cable from the camera to my HDTV to watch the HD video that way!!!

Thanks alot!!

Man I am loving this camera.

I am just blown away.

Hey Dr Mabuse
how about some more info?

I purchased my HG20 after weeks of reading reviews and feed backs of the few cameras on my list, Sory Sr11/12, Canon HF10/100 and finally HG20.
IMHO this camera is a steal compared to Sony SR11. I am well aware of stated draw backs like cheapo built quality and noisy zoom motor, lack og viewfinder, but for around $300 less than the Sr11 I had to pull the trigger.
I am only bummed that I took so much time to make up my mind and now my Hg20 wouldnt arrive till 12/15 (from Amazon). There are 3rd party seller on Amazon who show the camera in stock, but i wanted to buy from Amazon LLC because of their awesome return policy, in the off chance that the camera is less than what i expect.
The cheapest price on a Sony SR11 was around $725 shipped from a couple of online retailers with simply horrific customer feedback and painstaking return policy, most reliable retailers, online or otherwise are selling the SR11 for $800+ while the HG20 can be had for $540 Shipped.
Will keep you guys posted once I get the camera.

A positive side effect of a HDD camera is that it gets warmer when operating, therefore may perform better in the cold.

I have the HG20 on order so I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm really curious about the 60i vs. 24p vs. 30p setting.

Is one setting better for a particulary kind of filming? Or is it just more personal preference than anything else?

I will be mostly recording my son's soccer games - to send to college coaches and keep for my wife and I since he only has one more year of playing left - if he doesn't play in college.

Edit: Looking closer it seems that 30p and 60i are actually the same as far as how this camera works. So I guess my question is: Is 24p or 30p/60i better for filming sports? And what about family gatherings in the house like Christmas?

Thanks!

I used to be a Sony camcorder fan, but the touchscreen menu really turned me off. It is absolutely horrible to use. That aside, I am a loyal Canon SLR fan and currently own a 20D and a myriad of lenses so it was a natural choice to look at Canon. I bought the camera from Best Buy. The original price was $899, but they price matched Circuit City at $854, then 2 days later they price matched their own sale of $799, then 2 days later they again matched their now lower price of $599. Whew, $599 it is, what a deal!

I love the camera. It feels solid like the "L" (Pro) series still camera lenses I am used to and it delivers comparable image quality. The low light quality is not great (noise) but it is better than I would expect from a consumer grade camera (more like pro-sumer.) The stock battery life is a little dismal at 95 minutes, but anyone serious will own multiple batteries so that is not an issue really. I purchased 2 extra BP-819 batteries and an after market fast charger for $15 (Canon wants $60 for a charger!)

I edit on a MacBook Pro (dual core 2.4, 2G ram, 128M nVidia) using iMovie '08 and I have no problems to report. I do plan to purchase Final Cut eventually. The files are quite large when uncompressed, but you can backup the MTS (stream) files directly from the camera to DVD as a nice way to store "negatives".

As for concern over the hard drive, I wouldn't be. Hard drives are quite durable now, and the camera comes with a built in drop sensor that you can disable, but DON'T! This detects a fall, hopefully before it's too late, and moves the drive head (think needle on a record player) a safe distance away from the platter (think record) to prevent damage. I was initially concerned since this is not a high-altitude capable hard drive and is not recommended for use above 9800 ft. I do a lot of hiking, climbing, and mountaineering and wanted to use the camcorder to record these ventures. This turned out to not be an issue because you can simply use the SDHC option. If you are curious, you can google the high altitude / hard drive issue. When you think about it, millions of laptops, ipods, pda's, etc are used everyday, much more than camcorders and you rarely hear of issues, even after bad drops. Don't get me wrong, they do happen, but just not that frequently.

The optical stabilization is fantastic all through the zoom range. It is particularly impressive at full optical zoom (why does digital zoom even exits?) as I could see no perceptible shake after it initially stabilized. The LCD is nice and bright with easily accessible controls. I have fairly large hands and I have no complaints on using the buttons and menus. The menu layout is intuitive, easy to learn, full featured (amazingly so), and 99% of it can be controlled via the included wireless remote. Playback works well as the video is easy to see and the audio playback is plenty loud. I love that there is a mic input and a line out allowing the use of external microphones and monitor headphones.

I plan to get a lav mic and the mini hot shoe light as well. I was also a little bummed that the mini-hdmi cable was not included and that Canon wants $60+ for it. I did order one from monoprice.com (awesome site btw) for ~$12.

I hope this helps some make a decision, and please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I am not a video expert, but I am highly technically inclined. I am a Unix software and systems engineer and have worked in electronics and engineering for almost 15 years. I'm not trying to impress anyone, but I hope it gives you a hint as to my general technical level.

-Bill