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Only $60 more than it was 2 weeks at at B&H.

#1, that deal didnt last very long. at $700, it's a very good price for this camcorder. too bad costco stopped carrying TDK and their miniDV

Recording Media
High Definition MiniDV (recommended) (63min.) or MiniDV cassette

Audio
DV: 16 bit (2ch) 48 kHz
12 bit (4ch) 32 kHz
4ch synchronous recording not possible

HDV: MPEG1 Audio Layer II (2 ch)
(4-channel playback of tapes containing 4-channel recordings possible)


no SD!
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=177&modelid=16206#ModelTechSpecsAct

No SD! Is that good or bad? I'm thinking I want to go with one of the new HD SD camcorders.

HD cams recording to flash memory (built-in or SD cards) or harddrives are almost all using the AVCHD codec, which is much more compressed than the HDV format. if you want convenience and have a good computer go for a flash/harddrive camera, if you want the best image quality and/or have a slightly less current computer go for one of the HDV cams, of which the HV20/30 is pretty much the cream of the crop.

Thanks for info. #5.
I actually have HV30 and use HD mini DV tape to have my family HD movies. Can't happy more with the image quality. Just connect it to computer and, through Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, capture, edit, and deliver video to Blu-ray disc.

wtf.. it looks like can make pro=porn film?

"HD cams recording to flash memory (built-in or SD cards) or harddrives are almost all using the AVCHD codec, which is much more compressed than the HDV format"

Newsflash.Canon HF10/HF100 flash based camcorders are getting virtually equivalent picture quality ratings as the tape based HV20/HV30. 30+% smaller and lighter since no tape or HDD. Check it out at camcorderinfo.com

One significant downside though of HF10/100 is the sucky support of AVCHD editing. Adobe Premiere is sitting on their fat a$$es. Ulead says it supports but haven't checked their user forums on bugginess.

I 2nd that - AVCHD support on the computer side still sucks a$$. No reason to not go with HDV since its video is generally superior and the software support is finally mature.

I have to disagree. I love my Canon HF100. AVCHD works great with Sony Vegas 8, and the picture quality is the same as the HV30, with BETTER low light performance. Take a look on vimeo for clips using Canon's new flash cameras.

Disclaimer... If your a student who needs to do editing at school computer labs as well as your own PC/mac, then don't get an AVCHD camera. HDV will work with everything. AVCHD (right now) works with very few editing platforms. Vegas pro 8 works great for me, but its kinda costly.

#11, could you comment on the how the HF100 and the AVCHD format handles panning and any motion withing the film?

Just an FYI. Vegas will not run on 64-bit Vista (at least yet). Without a 64-bit Operating System, your PC will only utilize 3 GB of RAM. That's not necessarily a big deal, but just don't run out and buy an AVCHD camcorder, a quad-core monster PC, 64-bit Vista, and expect to be able to edit video with Vegas.

I've had the HV30 for about two weeks. Bought it from Amazon for $800. I've been very happy with it so far, but of course I haven't done a whole lot with it yet.

The main reasons I went with the HV30:
1. Records to miniDV tapes, which instantly archives the video. Hard Drive or Flash-based camcorders require you to store your video somewhere else (another hard drive, which means a LOT of disk space) or buy a whole lot of flash drives (which, while they are certainly coming down in price, ain't cheap). MiniDV's are cheap (10-packs for ~$25 online), hold the same amount of HD video as they do non-HD video (60 or 80 minutes), and are very reliable media.
2. According to practically every review I've seen, has the best all-around video quality of any non-pro camcorder out there. Low light is probably better on the Sony's, but I won't be shooting much lowlight video and with the HDV-pf30 mode, lowlight isn't bad at all.
3. Hard drive camcorders have this problem: if I remember on the way to an event that I forgot to clear off the hard drive on the camcorder, I am basically hosed unless I happen to have my laptop with me (and the time to copy the files off). Because the HV30 records to miniDV, the worst case is that I have to stop at a Walgreens and buy some miniDV tapes.

There are certainly reasons to buy other camcorders. This was just my own reasoning. Hope this helps.

#12, I tried doing some testing for this recently since I want to use the camera for sports related film. Motion blur does not exist. The only time this occurred was when I was in 24p mode... but quite frankly, i think this mode is very gimmicky and useless.

I tested the camera by zooming out to the max 12x, filming cars go by a 55mph road. I'll see if I can throw it up on Vimeo, but I'm sure someone on there has done something similar.

Also, #13 is correct about DV tapes, however the price of HCSD cards are sky rocketing down. HCSD cards are going to follow the same path of regular SD cards and be 20 bucks or less. I feel (eventually) spending the extra 5 bucks for a solid state recording format will be well worth it.

AVCHD has recently proven itself to be just as good if not better than HDV, as a recording format. As soon as the software people catch up, it will be the most logical option. The only question is, is are you willing to jump in now?

"AVCHD has recently proven itself to be just as good if not better than HDV, as a recording format"

not true. AVC still has problems with artifacting and recording motion. anyone serious about their image is using HDV or a high-end camera that records to high-mbps solid state like P2 or SxS.

AVC will get there eventually, but with what's available right now, HDV is still the best choice for picture quality. as i said in my first post though, for some people the convenience/weight/storage benefits of solid-state will outweigh the difference in picture quality.

What camera did you base your opinion #15? I have the HF100 with Vegas 8, and never get any kind of artifacts. I also have yet to experience problems with motion.