Canon Vixia HV30 High Definition Camcorder

Up to $300 off digital cameras [Exp 7/31]

B&H Photo Video Aiptek Action-HD 1080p Camcorder $180 Discuss (5)

Abes of Maine Sony HDR-CX100 HD 1080p Camcorder $435 Discuss (9)

Newegg Canon VIXIA HF200 High Definition Camcorder $575 Discuss (3)

Tiger Direct Canon Vixia HF11 Digital HD Camcorder $602 Discuss (3)

I'm pretty sure this is a fantastic price. I bought the HV10 recently on the recommendation of David Pogue of the NY Times. I paid $700 on Amazon. It's been a bit of a disappointment – the camcorder makes noise as it tapes and there's no HDMI. However, I got it to replace my Sony IP5 (micromv), for the small form factor. Which IS nice. This doesn't have that form factor, it's a big honkin' camcorder. But it's very highly rated.

I'm done with dv. My Panasonic gs250 died after two years. My next camcorder will be solid state with few moving parts.

Good deal I've seen. Thanks, Ben.

FWIW, I just bought a new HD camcorder and ending up going with the Sony SR11. Most of the reviews I read gave the Canon's and Sony's top marks and often the Canon was rated higher. I went to BB and actually handled them in person and the Sony was FAR better. The Canon felt flimsy and very plastic. The colors were not as vivid and it took longer to auto focus when compared to the Sony. The Sony was a little heavier, but I think that is due to build quality. The touch screen LCD is great and it is like a little 3" HDTV, very clear, and crisp colors. The Sony also takes 10mp still shots and surprisingly the built in flash does a good job with stills.

That is just one person's opinion, but I thought the Sony was worth about $150 more than the Canon.

MiniDV sucks. Tons of dropouts, the decks are unreliable and it takes forever to import video for editing. #2 is right on, flash is the way to go.

got the HF100, still waiting for it come. wonder how this compares to that?

This is the best camcorder you can buy right now.

I agree with #5, MiniDV is a great way to archive the video, but makes for editing or transfer to computer very time consuming. Plus you have to continue to buy tapes. I would stick with flash or HD based.

#7, I wouldn't proclaim this as the "best camcorder you can buy right now" when the design is awkward, the MiniDV door has known issues with being loose and/or flimsy, and the low light performance is lacking.

#8 http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php#

Canon HV30 received the highest score of all digital camcorder to this date.

You either spend a little more time with miniDV to transfer video to a PC or spend 5 times more time by rendering AVCHD. Can't win here time wise but HDV MiniDV quality is better and you can't beat archiving convenience and price

#9, that is one site's opinion, and their review of this camcorder is from January of 2008. Cnet and Amazon score this and several others equally.

When you say a sweeping comment like "best you can buy" I disagree since the Canon XH A1 blows this away.

I'm not looking to argue about which is the best. I gave my personal opinion after evaluating both online and in the store for about 2 weeks.

That site is dpreview of digital camcorder. If you know a better rating site that uses objective tests, let me know. I use cnet and amazon, but they are not the authority in digital cameras or digital camcorders. They are purely opinion, while dpreview/pop photo are camcorderinfo are not.

Come on, let's be realistic. Canon XH A1 came out in November and retails $3K. People are not here to shop $3K digital camcorders. I'm sure you'll be able to carry XH A1 with you on your vacation trips.

Flash based camcorders are going to make mini-dv obsolete. It's already made dvd camcorders obsolete. As soon as the output quality equals mini-dv, and they are close now, mini-dv will disappear.

Just curious, why is storing video on a hard drive or flash to "keep from buying tapes" an advantage? Isn't hard drive space more expensive than tape? Also, I store all my videos on a large hard drive so won't I need another large hard drive to back up that drive it case it goes bad? What is the lifespan of a hard drive vs. tape? How many of you are still using a hard drive from 10 years ago? As I run out of hard space for video, I have to buy another to store more video and this is an advantage over tape how?

#14 is right. If anyone bothers to read the reviews (and skip all those advertisements), they will know a HD-based digital camcorder doesn't provide you more advantage other than speedy access to any point in the video. But seriously people, do you do editing with camcorder? Even HD and flash-based camcorder such as HF10, you still want to transfer the video to a computer, and eventually stored it in a media.

#14, yes, tapes are generally more robust, but archiving on drives has advantages, too. the price of gb/$ drops constantly, so you can buy huge drives pretty cheaply these days and they keep getting larger all the time. I wouldn't archive anything I want to keep forever on a drive in a pc I use constantly because you are asking for a drive failure at some point. But archiving to an external drive you only power on to back up to wouldn't really be much different than tape, except you have one giant drive instead of dozens or even hundreds of loose tapes.

#16 I don't see why you can't backup the tapes to external drives. I copy MiniDV tapes to HD and edit on a computer, then burn a DVD so I can view it on DVD player.

I think whether or not you use HD, flash or MiniDV based digital camcorder, you will still need to transfer it to another storage device. If that's the case, video quality of the digital camcorder will matter the most. If you check the website I gave you, HV30 has one of the best video quality for a digital camcorder on the market.

#17 looking at 14's post, I see I misread it. You are and he are totally right. Also, I've read quite alot about the HV30 prior to this and, yes, it is top rated.

I went with the 120GB Sony SR12 -- Amazon had it for $849 (now back-ordered), and they ahve the 60GB SR11 for $679. I suggested these to Ben but he didn't list them -- maybe has some aversion to Sony gear. Anyway, for HD camcorders, reviews seem to be a tossup between Sony and Canon but most feel Sony build quality is better. I've always had Sony stuff, have Vegas Pro so I went with Sony. It's replacing a mini-DV SD Sony camcorder and importing the tapes is a pain -- finally dedicated a computer to doing that. With this camcorder, I'll import and then immediately archive to BluRay media (now down to $4 for 25GB, so it's reasonable).

To post comments, please Sign In or Register.       Forgot Password?

Registration takes seconds! Once registered you'll have members only access to a Favorites bookmark list, a fully customizable User Profile, and the ability to instantly add your thoughts to each discussion topic.