![]() ![]() Because the frame rate is slowing down compared to 1080i, we expected some increased sensitivity. ![]() This is true 24 progressive frames per second, not a digital effect. More or less the widow-maker feature that makes the HV20 the year’s most alluring HDV consumer camcorder, recording in 24P is simply beautiful. Again, it’s working under the assumption that you want the most accurate image. The Canon XH A1 also had far, far less in-camera sharpening. Consumer camcorders make the assumption that you’ll want them more saturated, so they might as well do the work for you. Pro camcorders like this record the image with peak fidelity, assuming that if you want more saturated colors, you can do that in post. The XH A1’s image was less saturated and more accurate. Technically, this is the next step up in the Canon HDV line, though we doubt very much that someone would be torn between one or the other. Just for comparison’s sake, we also held the HV20 up against the XH A1 ($3999 MSRP), a price difference of about nearly $3000. In bright light, the colors were richer than the HV20 the opposite held true in low light. The Sony clearly showed more in-camera sharpening, which helped bring out borders, but our tests showed it to be only incrementally better in the actual resolution. The Canon HV20 was also brighter than the HC7 in 1080i auto mode. Sony’s HDR-HC7 had great looking color in bright light (certainly more saturated), but the blue channel’s noise is so much more apparent to the eye because the grain is large. Up close, it turns out that the Canon HV20 does not actually lack noise so much as produce a finer grain than the competition. The HV10 had a distinct lack of apparent noise. So many consumer HD camcorders of late have held true to resolution expectations, but once you blow them up on a big screen, the noise becomes evident. The most remarkable feature of the video performance is the crispness and clarity. In bright light, the footage from the HV20 looked as good as the HV10, that is to say… excellent. In 4:3, the pixel count is reduced to 1,550,000. In 16:9, this equates to a 2,070,000 effective pixel count. ![]() This chip offers a gross pixel count of 2,960,000. Last year, we found the HV10 to have the best bright light video performance of any consumer HD camcorder, but the low light was disappointing. The Canon HV20 comes equipped with some familiar innards: the same 1/2.7" CMOS and Digic DVII processor found in the HV10. ![]()
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