Canon hv 20 HDV Camcorder
• 1/2.7′True HD CMOS Image Sensor with RGB Filter
• DIGIC DV II Image Processor
• 1 Ox HD Optical, 200x Digital Zoom Lens • HDMI Terminal
• Variable Zoom Speed Control with 5 Presets
• Optical Image Stabilizer
• 24p Cinema Mode
• Mic/Headphone Terminal
• MiniSDCard Slot
Complete HDV workflow
Avid Liquid offers native transfers & frame-accurate editing of 720p and 1080i HDV content. It features a powerful realtime effects engine that provides multiple streams of HDV in real time. Avid Liquid Pro breakout box will downconvert HDV footage for HD preview on an SD monitor.
Format flexibility
Avid Liquid supports the Avid Open Timeline: mix content from a variety of sources without having to transcode between formats. Edit DV, MPEG2/4, uncompressed SD, Windows Media, DIVX, as well as HDV!
Smooth DUD production
Avid Liquid includes integrated, full-featured DVD authoring for creating interactive DVDs. Create and customize menus S. navigation; preview and modify the DVD from the timeline; add a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix; and then intelligently render out to a finished DVD.
Canon
Canon’s HDV equivalent to its XL family of DV camcorders is the XL HI ($8,999). Like the JVC camcorders, this camcorder also includes the ability to remove the lens and put another on. The XL HI also has a significant number of film-like image settings, and a Professional Jackpack (HD SDI, genlock, and time code output).
JVC
The JVC GY-HD200 ($8,995) is designed more for electronic news gathering (ENG), along with digital cinematography and other forms of videography. It is very similar to the HD110, but has more features, including the extra ability to record in 60p and 50p in HDV mode.
The GY-HD250 ($10,995) is also similar to the GY-HD200 and GY-HD110, and is the most professional of its ProDV camcorders. This camcorder features HD SDI, genlock and time code output.
Panasonic
The Panasonic AG-HVX200 ($5,995) is the only DVCPRO HD camcorder in the sub-$ 10,000 category. Though the base price is around $6,000, this doesn’t include the P2 cards, which are needed for recording HD. A Mini DV tape transport system is included, but it can record only DV footage (not HDV).
P2 is a card-based technology Panasonic developed to keep the camcorder’s costs low. While the prices are dropping, two 8 GB P2 cards, which can hold about 8-20 minutes of HD quality footage each (depending on shooting format), can cost around $1,200 each as of this writing. These cards are necessary to shoot in HD.
The AG-HVX200 is similar to the revolutionary AG-DVX100 DV camcorder in look and design. It can capture footage in 1080i 24p, 24pA, 30p and 60i, along with multiple frame rates in 720p mode, from 12 fps to 60 fps. This can give the user smooth slow- and fast-motion effects.
The HVR-V1 3-CMOS camcorder offers both 1080 progressive and interlace capture. It can shoot in 60i, 30p, and also the very popular 24p, for film-style recording. The progressive signal is “packaged” into a 60i “stream,” meaning the final output is interlaced, while retaining the progressive look. This makes it easier for consumers with older televisions to watch the video without any problems. This is known as 3:2 pulldown. The VI is similar to the FX7, but has far more professional-style controls.
JVC
The professional JVC HDV/ProHD camcorders, including the HD110 ($6,550), offer 720p recording and the ability to switch lenses. The HD110 can record in 30p, 25p, and 24p while in HDV mode and 60p, 50p, 24p, and 60i in DV mode.
Canon
As described earlier, the Canon XH Gl ($6,999) is very similar to the XH Al and the higher-end XL HI, except like the HI, it offers HD SDI, Genlock, and Time Code output, known as the Professional Jackpack.
Canon
Nearly a year after Canon introduced the XL HI, the company revealed two smaller yet similar HDV camcorders, including the XH Al ($3,999), a 3-CCD camcorder capable of 1080i recording to tape. The unit is more affordable than the identical XH Gl because it doesn’t include HD SDI out, which is a pure digital, uncompressed video-only output. Like its sib-j lings, the XH Al can record in 1080i60, along with 30F and 24F, with an option for 50i and: 25F recording.
Most of the camcorders found in this price range are considered consumer, but they still pack a solid punch in terms of features and functionality. Most of these camcorders are HDV.
Sony
The Sony HVR-A1 ($3,100) is a professional, 1-CMOS HDV handheld camcorder that records in 1080i60 resolution. Because it’s from Sony’s pro division, this camcorder offers more features than the consumer HD camcorders, along with pro tech support.
Sony’s two consumer camcorders that have three chips and more professional-style manual controls are the 3-CCD HDR-FX1 ($3,700), similar to the professional HVR-Z1
and the 3-CMOS HDR-FX7 ($3,500), similar to the professional HVR-V1. While the FX1 has the edge in terms of more professional controls and 3 third-inch CCD (compared to the FX7’s 3 quarter-inch CMOS sensors), both camcorders offer excellent 1080i video capture to Mini DV tape.
• DVCPRO HD: An HD codec developed by Panasonic that includes both 1 080i/p and 720p, but when going to tape or P2 card, the 1920×1080 signal is down-sampled to 1 280×1 080, and 1 280×720 is down-sampled to 960×720. This keeps the overall “size” of the HD signal small. Upon output to TV, DVD, etc., the signal goes back to its original sizes.
• P2: Professional Plug-In; a storage device developed by Panasonic as a low-cost alternative to a more expensive DVCPRO HD tape deck. Each card is about the size of a credit card and can store, as of early 2007, up to 8 gigabytes (GB) of video each. Lowel lights serve documentary, corporate, news, independent, student and feature filmmakers “round the globe with speed, agility, economy and adaptability. It’s what you’d expect from the world leader in location lighting.
HDV: A low-cost alternative to uncompressed HD (high definition), developed in September 2003 by JVC, Sony, Canon, and Sharp. The HDV format records high-definition MPEG-2 transport streams to Mini DV tapes.
HDV uses long GOP (group of pictures), which contains an l-Frame, or Intra-Frame compressed image, once every 1 5 frames. The P- and B-Frames (or Predictive and Bi-Directional) will reference images and data that don’t change from the l-Frame. For instance, if a person is walking outside, the only part of the frame that is re-drawn and not referenced to the l-frame is the person who is walking. This keeps the data small enough to go to Mini DV tape.
• AVCHD: Advanced Video Codec-High Definition; another type of compression for HD production. Instead of HDV’s mandate of recording to tape, AVCHD records to either a DVD disc, a Hard Drive Disk (HDD), or a memory card.
Developed by Sony and Panasonic in mid-2006, AVCHD is compressed to MPEG-4 using H.264 encoding, and it has some similarities to HDV, such as a 4:2:0 sampling.
With so many high definition camcorders now on the market, along with Panasonic’s DVCPRO HD becoming more affordable, as well as the new AVCHD camcorders, the choice on which camcorder is right for you can be a difficult one. We break down the camcorders to help with that difficult decision.
MPEG-4
Sanyo’s handheld VPC-HDla Xacti Media Camera is the entry-level camcorder in terms of price, and offers 720p video via MPEG-4 compression, captured to SD memory cards, which are sold separately. This small camcorder can fit easily in your hand or pocket, which makes travel easy.
HDV
The JVC GR-HD1 was the first low-cost HD cam I corder to hit the market, in the spring of 2003.11 is a single-CCD camcorder that records in 720p f resolution to Mini DV tape, which is standard orj all HDV camcorders.
Canon introduced the 1-CMOS HV10 ($1,499| as a low-cost consumer-oriented and handheld I HDV counterpart to its higher-end HDV camcorffl ers. This camcorder can record in 60i, along witrl 30F and 24F, which the high-end units can do. The “F” means full frame, and is very similar to how progressive video works. There is also a j native 1920xl080-size sensor. At the time of pun
