A Man and His Camera, BFF (Canon HV20 Review)

Posted by Keith · February 28th, 2008

Oh, how I love these wonderful toys! Let me tell you, whenever the big boss man sidles into the office with a new gadget or gizmo under his arm and tosses it on my desk with instructions to test its worth, well it’s as good as Christmas to a big nerd like myself. I poke and prod every inch, field-testing it to within an inch of its warranty, all in the name of consumer gratification. That’s right, we run these machines through the ropes simply to let you know how they perform.

My most recent encounter was with the Canon HV20 camcorder, a camera with the ability to shoot in the HDV codec, meaning that when programmed to do so, it records with 1080 lines of resolution (a big improvement from the 720 lines found in typical mini-DV NTSC). I feel my first obligation is to explain to you the difference between HD and HDV. Many retailers will label this an HD camera, but don’t expect to see quality comparable to what you get on your HD television. Just like high definition programming, this camera can record the full 1080 lines of resolution, theoretically capturing an equally crisp and defined image. However, the medium, which this and many other HDV camcorders record to, is still mini-DV tapes. To fit onto the magnetic strips of these tapes, the image must be dramatically compressed, degrading the quality of the HD image by a significant amount.Don’t be discouraged just yet, for while you won’t get true HD quality out of these reasonably-priced cameras, you’re still getting a heap more than you would from a standard definition HD camera. That being stated, on to the Canon HV20.To begin with, I downright dig this camera. Canon’s operations are always user friendly, and this model is no different.The menu is easily navigable and the interface is intuitive. Read the rest of this entry »

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