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There are a lot of excellent high definition (HD) camcorders. I want to get a high quality, feature-rich, compact-sized camcorder.  I want full HD support, either 1080i, 1080p, or 720p.  After several weeks of research, I narrowed my decision down to three possibilities, the Sony HC7, the Panasonic SD1, and the Canon HV20.  Here's how I chose...

There were a few general requirements I had.

• Support for full HD (1440x1080 or 1920x1080) resolution
• Microphone and Headphone ports (for better audio recording)
• Compact and light (less than 1.5 pounds)
• Good low light image quality
  

Well, let's get right into it- here's what I thought about the choices.

Sony HC7 - Sony's camcorder has excellent picture quality in bright light.  However, its downfall, according to this camcorderinfo.com review, is its low light performance.  And unfortunately, I think most of my video recording will be in low light- indoors in the evenings, outdoors at dusk or nightfall.  The HC7 does have one fantastic advantage- Sony's ECMHW1 bluetooth wireless mic.  Wireless microphones are expensive and hard to find, and are the key to good audio quality, and Sony seems to have the best inexpensive solution for this problem.

Panasonic SD1 - This is a fantastic 3CCD camcorder.  With 3 CCDs, it has decent low-light performance (according to this review).  In addition, because it uses SD flash memory for recording video, it is very compact.  I love the design and size of this camera!  And I love that it uses SD flash memory- it comes with a 4GB flash memory, good enough for about 40 minutes of HD video.  However, AVCHD is currently too hard for my computer to handle and lacking in software support (which should change over time).   Also, the SD1 doesn't support 24P recording, which would be nice to have.

Canon HV20 - Canon's second HD camcorder, a follow-up to the HV10, is a camera that has a few outstanding features that tip the scale in its favor.  First and foremost, decent low-light performance.  Second, support for 24P recording at 1440x1080 HD resolution.   And third, its excellent Instant AF, Canon's ultra-fast auto-focus system.  It uses HDV tape, and is reasonably small (though I wish it were as small as the Panasonic SD1).  Support for 24P (a frame rate of 24 frames per second) is astounding because at this time, no other consumer-level camcorders do true 24P (some such as Sony camcorders, have a fake 24F mode).  24P is cool for several reasons- first, it is the frame rate for film movies, and the "film look" is something that is much sought after by independent movie makers.  And second, 24P allows for better low light image quality since you can get away with a 1/24 second shutter speed, as opposed to the standard 1/60 second maximum for standard 60i video (60 frames per second).

So, I took the plunge and chose the Canon HV20.  Stay tuned for my review of the Canon HV20.

 

 

Posted by spotsearch at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Whenever I put my money into a big-ticket item, I do my research. Here's what I found in researching high definition (HD) camcorders. Anyone looking into HD camcorders should learn from my experiences.

The era of high definition television (HDTV) is well underway, with large screen LCD, plasma, and projection TVs. And so, with my decision to buy a camcorder, I would think of nothing less than getting an HD camcorder. There are currently two dominant data formats for HD camcorders:

AVCHD: A brand new format, based on MPEG-4, H.264. AVCHD files are typically recorded either onto hard drives, DVDs, or flash memory. This format is currently so new that many video editing software programs do not support it yet.  Compressed files are supposed to be about twice as small for an equivalent quality HDV file.  But you'll have to have a very fast CPU.

 
HDV: High Definition Video. A digital format for HD video based on the older MPEG-2 compression format recorded onto DV tapes. This format has widespread support by software such as video editing programs.  HDV has a 25 megabit/s bitrate, and supports resolutions of up to 1440x1080.

Although AVCHD is the format of the future, due to practical reasons, I chose to go with HDV. HDV has widespread support, and at least for the next few years, will likely be the dominant format for recording high definition video.  In addition, AVCHD requires substantially more CPU power for processing.  Currently I have a 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo, which seems to be just barely fast enough to play back full 1080i HD files and, unfortunately, is not quite fast enough to efficiently work with AVCHD (such as transcoding) unless you have a lot of time and patience.  I think for reasonable AVCHD manipulation and processing of 1080i video, you'll want at least 4 Intel cores 2.5Ghz or faster at a minimum.

Anyways, in doing my research, I came across some really good sites.

camcorderinfo.com - This is one of the best review sites for camcorders.  There are lots of in-depth reviews with lots of attention to detail.

CNet HD Camcorders - CNet does all kinds of tech reviews.  Though not as detailed as camcorderinfo.com reviews, it is usually worth taking a look at CNet's opinion.

Also, once you narrow your choices down to a few models, Amazon.com is a good place to check for real user reviews and comments.

 

Posted by spotsearch at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)