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Canon HV20 or HV30

M

mnwtucker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 15, 2008
5
0
Firstly, many thanks for the help I got on my previous NTSC or PAL formats.

I have two further questions:

1: I've since narrowed my selection down to either the Canon HV20 or HV30. The HV20 has dropped with the iminent arrival of the HV30, but comparing the UK models there seems to be very little difference. (I'm based in the UK)

I've written to Canon asking them to hightlight what's new on the UK versions beyond the new LCD and the battery upgrade option but am still waiting for a reply.

Does anyone here have an opinion or have an alternate suggestion? I need to purchase by April to coincide with a new edition to my family!

2: Also, from what I understand, when I transfer via the firewire link to my macbook pro I'm going to loose HD. Is that correct?

Many thanks,
Matt
 
mnwtucker said:
2: Also, from what I understand, when I transfer via the firewire link to my macbook pro I'm going to loose HD. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
I don't have one, but based on reviews and common sense, no for HV20.
 
mnwtucker said:
2: Also, from what I understand, when I transfer via the firewire link to my macbook pro I'm going to loose HD. Is that correct?
Click to expand...

No. There might be a setting in the camera that you have to set to make sure it's sending HDV and not DV over the firewire, but assuming you have everything configured right you will get HDV on to your Macbook Pro.
 
I just bought a HV20 a few weeks ago and it's great if you can get over the real time video transfers. When I imported the video to imovie for the first time a question box popped up and asked if I wanted to keep it in full 1080 or lower the resolution. It looks pretty good but be prepared to sacrifice a lot of HDD space. Something like 1 hr= 25g.

Good luck.
 
Get the HV20, the HV30 is a very minor upgrade. It can do 30f as well as 25f, other than that it´s hardly any difference.
I have a HV20 I use as a playback deck for my XL-H1. I also use it as a 2. camera on some shoots.
It´s a great little camera, a little "plastic" feel to it though.
I´m capturing with the camera as I write this.

You can import HDV over firewire into your MBP no problem.
1 Hour takes 13 gig

Both cameras have HDMI out, great for connecting to a HD TV
 
Thanks for all the advice to-date!

It looks like the HV20 is going to be the camera for me - good job too as it's dropped significantly in price!
 
update - HV20 to HV30

I'm 'alleging' this as I'm possibly contravening some sort of confidentiality clause....

I've had a response from UK Canon customer support who appear to confirm that the upgrades to the HV30, compared with the HV20 are the multi-angle LCD view screen and the battery life. This obviously only refers to the UK specification model. Other countries may be different.

Hope this is helpful to others. Thank you Canon for saving me money!
 
mnwtucker

The features also apply to the US version as well and from what I've gathered it has the 30P but no mention of 60(i)? anymore (I think that's what the info said). The lcd has been improved and yes the battery area is different so that it will accept the larger capacity batteries (unlike the HV20 that people have complained about however I don't know if it's true about the HV20).
Overall I'm not sure the HV30 is worth the full price as the HV20 can be (when found in stock) found for a good price.

I think my main concern would be the motor noise and battery life. If the HV30 is improved in that aspect some may feel the extra money spent is worth it. Then again we never hear (no pun intended) from those that don't have any motor noise issues either from their HV20's. Battery life is another item that differs from each person depending on their use. I wouldn't mind hearing how the battery life is (how long do you get from a battery pack) with some others here at MR that have the HV20.

I still think that the HV20 is too go of a deal to pass up in the long run.
Good luck :)
 
Does anyone know if the HV20 or HV30 use the same batteries that the GL2/XL1/XL2 use? I am thinking of getting an HV20 but I would love to use the same batteries.

Also, what would you guys choose: Canon GL2 or HV20?
 
321estrellas said:
Does anyone know if the HV20 or HV30 use the same batteries that the GL2/XL1/XL2 use? I am thinking of getting an HV20 but I would love to use the same batteries.

Also, what would you guys choose: Canon GL2 or HV20?
Click to expand...
That depends on if you plan to shoot hd.
 
yoak said:
I´m capturing with the camera as I write this. You can import HDV over firewire into your MBP no problem.
Click to expand...

Wow, thank you so much for that comment... May I ask a followup? I have a 17" MBP 2.4GHZ 4GB RAM. Do you think that HDV will transfer / transcode into iMovie at real-time across FireWire 400, or is it slower than realtime in your experience?

Either way is fine, I would just like to set my expectations. :) I am planning to buy the HV20 and work in HDV 1080 going forward... I'm going HDV / tape because I still have a bunch of SD MiniDV's from my old Sony camp.

Thanks again!
 
Jasper2k said:
...I have a 17" MBP 2.4GHZ 4GB RAM. Do you think that HDV will transfer / transcode into iMovie at real-time across FireWire 400, or is it slower than realtime in your experience?
Click to expand...

I'll jump in here,
The HDV capture is similar to to regular DV capture, ie. the camera plays the tape in real-time, and the HDV data stream is copied to the hard drive. There is only real-time, or not-at-all. If you have a lot of other things on the firewire bus, and the bandwidth gets choked, frames get dropped, and you have to start over, it can't go slower than real-time to catch up. Also, if your machine is fast enough to capture DV, you can capture HDV. It is exactly the same bit rate, (25mbps) just a lot more compressed. Notice I emphasized capture, you still need a recent computer to edit it or even play it real-time. I was able to capture HDV on a 1.25 Ghz Powerbook G4, but it didn't have enough power to play it back in real-time.

Your MBP is more than enough to edit HDV, my 2.0Ghz 15" MBP with 2GB of RAM handles my HV-20 footage just fine.
 
Summery:
Get the HV 20 because it will be cheaper with the same video quality
 
Bunsen said:
I'll jump in here,
The HDV capture is similar to to regular DV capture, ie. the camera plays the tape in real-time, and the HDV data stream is copied to the hard drive. There is only real-time, or not-at-all. If you have a lot of other things on the firewire bus, and the bandwidth gets choked, frames get dropped, and you have to start over, it can't go slower than real-time to catch up.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the excellent explanation - worded that way, even I understand it now! What I should have asked, it seems, is whether the transcode can keep up with the capture, so that they end in "real time..."

Another Article said:
Because of the compression used with HDV, capturing video is NOT real time. Though the video plays off the camcorder in real-time and is copied to the hard drive in real-time, the Mac has to decompress/transcode the video into an editing friendly format (AIC). This is done in parallel with the spare CPU cycles as the HDV video stream is being copied to the hard drive. When the playback on the camera stops, a modal dialog box appears asking you to wait until the remainder of the buffered video on the hard drive is decoded. I observed an average of 1/2 to 1/4th real-time on my Mac.
Click to expand...

But either way, it sounds like my current Mac should be able to keep up with HDV, based upon the first-hand experiences like yours.

Thanks again - MAN, I love how helpful everyone is here! I wish I could return the favor, but I'm a newbie :)
 
Bunsen said:
I'll jump in here...
There is only real-time, or not-at-all.
Click to expand...

That's not strictly true for HDV. If you're capturing on a not so powerful computer, capture can lag behind real time as the data is transcoded to the Apple Intermediate Codec and you'll get a message saying 'capture is not real time, refer to camera's display (if you want to stop capturing at a specific point). Once you've stopped capturing, no matter how far the computer is lagging behind, transcoding will continue and you shouldn't have any dropped frames.
 
I am interested in what people find in the build quality of this camera. I am tempted after seeing it in demo mode at a store. But the build quality did seem rather flimsy
 
Alican said:
That's not strictly true for HDV. If you're capturing on a not so powerful computer, capture can lag behind real time as the data is transcoded to the Apple Intermediate Codec and you'll get a message saying 'capture is not real time, refer to camera's display (if you want to stop capturing at a specific point). Once you've stopped capturing, no matter how far the computer is lagging behind, transcoding will continue and you shouldn't have any dropped frames.
Click to expand...

Yep, you're right! But I usually don't transcode to Apple Intermediate, I just capture HDV and edit it on a HDV timeline in Final Cut Pro. Then again, that may be a feature that is exclusive to FCP.
 
Alican said:
I am interested in what people find in the build quality of this camera. I am tempted after seeing it in demo mode at a store. But the build quality did seem rather flimsy
Click to expand...

It's a consumer camera so yes, it is going to be cheaper quality than one that costs several thousand dollars That being said, it's the most robust piece of equipment I have ever owned considering its price.

If you want to shoot high quality footage and have a pretty decent level of control over it, the HV20 is perfect.

If you are OK with standard Def footage and/or need to look more professional for clients, the gl1/gl2 may be a better option.

I owned a gl1, now I own a hv20. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
 
XjeffX said:
It's a consumer camera so yes, it is going to be cheaper quality than one that costs several thousand dollars That being said, it's the most robust piece of equipment I have ever owned considering its price.

If you want to shoot high quality footage and have a pretty decent level of control over it, the HV20 is perfect.

If you are OK with standard Def footage and/or need to look more professional for clients, the gl1/gl2 may be a better option.

I owned a gl1, now I own a hv20. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Click to expand...

Thanks. When I was looking at it in the shop it didn't' feel as solid as my Sony HC1. Now Sony are bringing out the HC9 with no 25p shooting mode, and what seems to be the same, slow autofocus system, I think I am going to jump ship. Many a shot has been spoilt by the sony's slow and wandering autofocus.
 
I have to say I´m a bit dissapointed in the build quality. It feels a bit "palstic". I have an old Sony PC9 and the build quality is much sturdier.
We use our HV20 as B and c cameras when shooting action sports and I have to admit that one stopped working after a couple of weeks out in the snow. Mine is still working fine though.
I would have expected a bit more solid feel even if it´s reasonable priced
 
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