Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon HV20 High Definition Camcorder (10X Optical Zoom, 2.7" Widescreen Colour LCD)

There are now HD cams available that will record to internal harddisks, but I much prefer this Canon with its tape recording. I find tape to be far easier to store, especially at HD quality, I didn't want to be buying a new harddisk every 6 months to store the footage. The main disadvantage with tapes of course, is having to rewind and search for scenes.

On the subject of tapes, for anyone new to HDV camcorders, you can actually use plain old mini-DV tapes in this camcorder to record HDV footage, you still get 60 minutes a tape because the footage is now in mpeg2 rather than DV encoding. Actually the camcorder reports 61 minutes when a new mini-DV tape is inserted.

The video light is a bit gimicky. It works ok, but it's only really just a single LED lamp, so is very weak and only work up to about 6 feet at the most, even then the angle of light is quite narrow, so the frame is light in the middle, dark on the edges.

The photo flash is also just ok, but better than nothing. When taking pictures in dedicated photo mode you have 4:3 format; when in video mode, it's basically a still capture of the video frame, so is wide-screen.

There's definitely room for improvements on the ergonomics front, the zoom rocker for example doesn't fall naturally on your fingertips.

The cam has firewire out, but your software will need to understand HDV in order to capture the footage. The cam doesn't come with any video editing software. I know Adobe Premiere Elements 3 can handle HDV, not sure what else can.

All in all, I am very happy with this cam, I can live with the ergonomics problem, especially when I know I'm capturing my kids growing up, or the wedding, or the party in the best HD quality I know of.

Compared to my previous "HD" cam, the Sanyo HD1 with the HV20 is like comparing a basic Ford Fiesta with a top of the range Audi A4 - bigger yes it is, but it's so much nicer.

I brought this camcorder 2 weeks ago for a great price. I have a Sony as well. When I first comapred the build quality, you notice the difference, the Sony is strong and feels good in your hand. The HV20 is a different beast, feels light and in some sense cheap. Considering a £400 price difference I can't complain.

Anyway, the real icing on the cake is the performance. Here, I tested in low light conditions and bright light. I must say in bright light the HV20 was amazing the colour, saturation and clarity was in abundance. I was truly amazed. In low light it didn't fair well.., until(wait for it) I switched to 24P(24 frames full progressive). The image was great. I mean I can use this in low light situations with no probs. Even my Sony HC7 couldn't touch the HV20 in this department.

At this point I was jumping with glee(especially as I like shooting night scenes). The stabiliser is great and the still images are brilliant. Although, still I'd always use DSLR for large prints. Okay it doesn't have a manual focus ring etc. But I am not bothered. Menu screen is intuitive and easy to navigate. I love the joystick, it's so easy to navigate and use all with one hand. Canon did extremely well here. Much better than the touch screen on my sony(and I found I always end up cleaning the screen on the sony, every few minutes)

If you require control over aperture and shutter speed this camera may not be for you, But I found I rarely need it for this camera, it does what it does extremely well. I'm not using it for weddings etc and even still I have a XHA1 for special occassions.

If you want a camcorder for your family holidays and all in HD, look no further, this is definetly the buy of the year without a doubt.

After doing a lot of research in 2007 I decided to buy the HV 20 I was going to get 1 about 5 months before I did but I was still not sure so really looked into what was out there and even after the 5months of looking around nothing came out that could touch the picture quality at the price of the canon. I work with a lot of video cameras in my job and this little camera has really impressed me.
1 st off remeber this is not being sold as semi pro camrea its just a general consumer camera that is producing some of the best quality pictures I have seen when even compared to pro and semi pro units that can cost thousands of pounds.

I have been using it in some real low light conditions for filming danceing in low light enviroments (clubs) and have been impressed with the quality of the capture. I found with setting the camera to HDV (PF25) and the sports aperture setting has produced some of the best results in low light.

The 25 frame emulation mode will capture your videos that gives them a look as if they have been captured on a film camera somthing similar to what a lot of TV drama is shot emulating the look of a super 16mm camera. Its not that the video looks like it has been shot on film it has the ablity to give the camera to record footage with a different feel that is really hard to explain but it certainly has the feel as if it has been shot on a much more expensive unit than the HV 20.

The quality of the built in 3 meg still camera is nat amazing but I have found it a great tool that if used right can capture some good quality pictures that you can use in your videos when it comes to editing those family movies. The camera also has a built in flash which is very limited but is better than no flash I guess.It records the stills on to Mini SD card and you can switch bettween capturing video and stills by a switch on the side of the unit. You are supposedly able to capture stills at a low res whilst filming but I have not used this option as the resolution is to low.

I have had some issues with the auto focus but this is normal for these types of units and the wheel on the side of the unit for manual focusing I have found useless. You will never get the right feel being detached from the lens unit.

I have been impressed with the built in mic for basic recording but if you plan on doing anything where the sound is really improtant you should definatly invest in an exturnal mic.

I could talk about this camera for ages so I will shut up now.

Basically if you want a HDV Tape based unit at a great price and accept that this is not a pro unit you cant go wrong, (I have even shot a short film onit) with good results so it shows you a bad work man can always blame his tools and I have been really impressed with this tool.

I have only had the camera for 24hrs but is enough time to know that its something special. i did my homework before buying and saw some of the fantastic clips on the web filmed with this camera. I know a lot of the new camcorders record on memory card etc but HDV still gives the best quality. The canon records a fantastic pictures and colurs are vivid and bright. It is easy to use both for recording and playback on your HD set. the only downside is that there is no HDMI cable included. thoroughly recommended

Having had a Canon Camcorder for 8 years (The MV20i) I am already hooked on the brilliance of Canon. So this move to the next stage was for me merely a point in time of when to buy and what to buy. My old model had most of what I needed in the new but since I do all of my editing on my PC now via Pinnacle Studio - I wanted the option of transferring my edited movie back onto my DV tape and the Firewire in/out option within the HV20 gives me this. I have found the HV20 to be a very user friendly piece of kit that produces just awesome pictures. The ergonomics are mentioned in a few reports and yes I would agree that they dont seem to be placed around a normel persons hand - the zoom dial for example doesnt fit nicely in line with the index finger that is supposed to operate it but, I guess I will get used to it. The problem is that my previous model was so good then these small items need to be commented upon. However, no way would that stop me giving this a 5 star rating. I am also impressed by the photograhic capability at the 3mpixel camera although I would have preferred to have known that I needed to buy memory card so I could have done that at the same time. (256meg recommended)
I have now had the product for just over a week and have found it to be just perfect for what I wanted. I must also comment on the brilliant ability to control the sound "in" input via a manual control. This is really useful where you are in a quiet room and the speech you want to pick up is at the other side of the room.
Finally no matter what you do - if you have an HD television then invest in HD tapes the differance is just amazing and this is after recording in ordinary mini DV and finding that superb too. Worth every penny.