Boston Globe Discusses HD Camcorders

In a 2-page article titled "Capture memories without hassle", The Boston Globe correspondent John Dyer discusses a few aspects of affordable and small HD camcorders available on the market. While not deeply technical, the article also compares the pros and cons of four camcorders available from Best Buy: Pure Digital's Flip Video MinoHD, for $229.99; JVC's Everio G, for $479.99; Samsung's High-Definition Digital Camcorder, for $722.49; and Sony's Handycam, at $809.99.

"In the 1970s, people gathered in their living rooms to watch grainy home movies filmed on Super 8 cameras. In the 1980s, they carried clunky video cameras on their shoulders and popped cassettes into VCR machines. In the 1990s, they burned DVDs with rudimentary digital recorders.

Today, they're using HD, or high-definition, camcorders to upload videos to YouTube."

Buy a Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Black) or a Sony HDR-CX12 High Definition Memory Stick PRO Duo Handycam Camcorder With 12x Optical Zoom or a Samsung HMX-R10 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/5x Optical Zoom (Black).

Read the full hd camcorder article at Boston Globe.

Canon Vixia HF11 reviewed

Techtree India has a review of the Canon Vixia HF11.

Summer vacations will be starting soon, and most people will be going somewhere for holidays. When it comes to capturing special moments on special occasions, such as a vacation abroad, a wedding, or a birthday, a camcorder can do a lot more than a digital camera. Yet again, we have the review of a brand new camcorder, and this one has full HD recording capabilities. High Definition content or HD is fast gaining popularity these days, and it will not be long before we find it becoming a part of our everyday life. We have all marveled at the quality of HD movies when compared to standard DVD movies, and the sheer prospect of bringing that quality to the videos we capture is an exhilarating thought. We have with us today the Canon VIXIA HF11, which is a HD camcorder from Canon.

Canon is one of the companies in the forefront as a digital camera manufacturer, and are also manufacturers of a large range of camcorders - non-HD and HD. The SSD-based HF11 camcorder bears the standard stylish looks that have been a hallmark of camcorders from Canon. This particular model uses a 32 GB SSD as well as a SD-HC card slot for more capacity. It features 12x optical zoom and also 40x digital zoom, which can be extended to 200x. We shall observe in our review today how well this camcorder performs and whether what is shown on paper does indeed hold true.

Buy a Canon VIXIA HF11 AVCHD 32 GB Flash Memory Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom

Read the Canon VIXIA HF11 review.

PCWorld reviews JVC Everio GZ-HD40

A compact model with a beefy 120GB hard drive, the JVC Everio GZ-HD40 records to two formats: the compact and increasingly common AVCHD, and the higher-quality MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS). Although it has decent automatic and manual image control, the JVC Everio GZ-HD40 is like a bilingual exchange student lacking perfect mastery of either his native or secondary tongue. It's a good HD camcorder, but better values abound.

The JVC Everio GZ-HD40 captures 1080i high-definition video onto its 120GB hard drive (or a user-supplied microSDHC card) with a 1/3-inch CMOS sensor. This JVC Everio GZ-HD40 camcorder is compact, but not cheap. And its image quality isn't the greatest.

Buy a JVC Everio GZ-HD40 120 GB AVCHD High Definition Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

Check out the JVC Everio GZ-HD40 review.

Stuff.tv posts top HD camcorders list

UK-based Stuff.tv says:

New sensor technology, touchscreen LCDs and Full HD recording: hi-def moviemaking is at your fingertips. Here's our pick of camcorders to get you started.

The list includes these models:

• Toshiba Camileo H20
• Creative Vado HD
• Sanyo VPC-HD2000
• Samsung HMX20
• Panasonic HDC-TM300
• Canon Legria HF S10

Check out the full details here.

Toshiba Camileo H20 review

When the first HD camcorders started making their way onto the market, it was inconceivable that there would ever be a device that ordinary consumers would buy. HD camcorders, it seemed, were forever to be the domain of enthusiastic home cinema buffs.

But then everyone started buying HD TVs, and suddenly HD belonged to everyone, and, at just £169 in UK, the Camileo H20 is a perfect example. It’s not the cheapest HD camcorder out there, but it’s certainly not too far from being.

via iGizmo UK

Canon Vixia HF20 HD Camcorder reviewed

CamcorderInfo has a fresh review of the Canon Vixia HF20.

From the review:

Since it is $300 cheaper than last year's Canon HF11, we didn't expect the HF20 to put up the kind of numbers we saw from its award-winning sibling. What did shock us, however, was how steep of a downgrade the HF20 really is. Sure, it's smaller and lighter than the HF11, but it simply doesn't have the video performance to keep up with the intense pace set by Canon. Does the $899 price tag make-up for this loss in quality? Well, it depends. If you plan on using the HF20 to shoot in the dark, it simply won't deliver the goods. It measured a terrible low light sensitivity and the noise levels in our tests were way too high. The fact that the HF20 performed so poorly in low light is extremely disappointing. The Canon HF20 also had too many handling issues to get a free pass from us.
We found the menus to be confusing and the lack of a clearly labeled "Easy" mode to be disorienting for first-time users. The system for adjusting many of the manual controls were also poorly designed. Still, there's a lot to like about the HF20. In bright light, it measured an incredibly-high video resolution and its color accuracy wasn't half-bad either.
The camcorder features a decent set of manual controls, offers all the necessary ports and connectivity options (including a mic and headphone jack), and is a fairly portable device. It's 32GB of internal flash memory and inclusion of 24p and 30p frame rates also deserve strong praise.

Buy Canon VIXIA HF20 HD Dual Flash Memory w/32GB Internal Memory & 15x Optical Zoom

Read full review here.

Sony HDR-CX12 reviewed

PC Advisor has posted a review of the Sony HDR-CX12 camcorder.

Recording to a SDHC memory card, the Sony HDR-CX12 HD sports a 1/3-inch imaging sensor - a rather large size for a consumer HD camcorder - and HDMI output. It records AVCHD video at a data rate of 16Mbit per second, which is good, but not at the top of the heap.

Overall, the shooting experience with the Sony HDR-CX12 HD is quite comfortable. For manual adjustments as you shoot, Sony thoughtfully included a great control wheel.

Generally speaking, it's much faster and more natural to use an analogue wheel than it is to fiddle a little joystick or click through menus using buttons when you want to manually adjust focus, zoom, exposure, shutter speed, and so on.

Buy a Sony HDR-CX12 High Definition Memory Stick PRO Duo Handycam Camcorder With 12x Optical Zoom

Read the full PC Advisor HDR-CX12 review here.

Toshiba Camileo Pro HD reviewed

Gadgetrepublic has a short review of the Toshiba Camileo Pro HD.

Offering 720p digital video and 5 megapixel still-image photography, it also has 3X optical and 4X digital zoom. This means you can record hours of video and take still pictures of up to 8 megapixel resolution and then view them on the TFT LCD screen.

For the most part the images in the screen display are pretty good, although I found that if you moved your focal point too fast, like on a good night out, things got a little fuzzy.

Read the full review here.

Digital Home High Definition FAQ: What is AVCHD?

Canadian site Digital Home has a new FAQ about AVCHD over here, but I also have a short explanation with good links here on the What is H.264 / AVC and why you need it? page.

AVCHD, which stands for Advanced Video Codec High Definition, is a high-definition (HD) digital video camera recorder format, created by Sony and Panasonic in May 2006.

The format employs MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) codec for video compression, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) or Linear PCM for the audio codec. Using an AVCHD camcorder, videographers are able to record about one hour of high definition recording on a 4GB SDHC flash memory Card.

AVCHD recordings can be transferred to a computer by connecting the camcorder via the USB connection. Many camcorders can record to removable media like SDHC and Memory Stick cards or DVD discs, which can be directly read on a computer. The good news for hdtv owners is that thanks to an increasing acceptance of the format by the consumer electronics industry, many new HDTV's from JVC, Panasonic and Sony now have microSD slots which will accept and playback memory cards with AVCHD recordings on them.

Buy a Canon VIXIA HG20 AVCHD 60 GB HDD Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom

JVC 2009 Everio Series with GZ-HD300, GZ-HD320

Buy a JVC Everio GZ-HD300 60GB High-Def Camcorder (Black)

The JVC HD Everio line all record 1920 x 1080 full HD video. The GZ-HD300, with 60GB hard drive, the GZ-HD320, (with 120GB hard drive), offer HDD storage for extra-long recording times, and the GZ-HM200 offers dual SD card recording, with continuous recording from one card to the next. The HD Everio is one of the smallest and lightest full HD camcorder models available.

The 2009 JVC Everio line make it easy to watch videos on an iPod or iPhone® by exporting videos to the user’s iTunes library with the new One Touch Export function provided by bundled software for Windows.

This joins the One Touch Upload function for uploading to YouTube. This line is still packed with a One Touch DVD Creation function for easy archiving and sharing by disc, a long-time Everio feature.

Another new feature found on the 2009 JVC Everio line is the Digest Playback, which offers an easy and entertaining way to check the of the Everio’s HDD or SD/SDHC card. The function automatically highlight scenes from among the recorded content using JVC’s proprietary algorithm and plays back what looks like a "coming attractions" trailer for a movie. Sixty minutes of footage is condensed into five minutes of highlight scenes.

Closing the LCD also closes the lens cover and shuts down the power. Recording can start in about one second after the LCD is re-opened.

Via HardwareZone

Noah DDV-V3HD High Fashion HD Camcorder

Weird named manufacturer Noah has a nice low budget HD camcorder sold around $150, but not much info is available apart from the tech specs you find below. They also manufacture LCD digital photo frames.

The DDV-V3 looks and feels right in the palm of your hand. Its point and shoot simplicity belies is high quality bright screen and video high resolution video and still camera output. Flash, white balance, self timer and even face detection is incorporated.

Tech Specs

General Information Manufacturer Noah Company LLC Manufacturer Part Number DDV-V3HD Brand Name Noah Company Product Model DDV-V3 Product Type Digital Camcorder Display & Graphics Screen Size 2.5" Display Screen Type Active Matrix TFT Color LCD Number of Image Sensors 1 Image Sensor Size 0.4" Image Sensor Type CMOS Effective Image Resolution 5Megapixel Total Camcorder Resolution 5.51Megapixel Image Image Formats JPEG Video Video Formats MPEG-4 AVI Maximum Video Resolution 1280 x 720 Maximum Frame Rate 30fps Progressive Scan Yes Video System NTSC PAL Audio Audio Formats MP3 Lens Focal Length 7.1mm Aperture Range f/3.2 Optical Zoom Not Applicable Digital Zoom 5x Image Stabilization Electronic Focus Modes Fixed Focus Exposure Exposure Control Program AE White Balance Modes Auto Daylight Cloudy Fluorescent Tungsten Sunset Custom Shutter Speed 1/4 to 1/8000 Second Storage Recording Media Flash Memory Memory Card Flash Memory Capacity 32MB Memory Memory Card Support Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Card Secure Digital (SD) Card Controls/Indicators Camera Modes Auto Program Dawn Auction Built-in Devices Built-in Devices Flash Light Interfaces/Ports Interfaces/Ports 1 x Audio/Video Out 1 x HDMI 1 x Microphone 1 x Headphone 1 x USB 2.0 USB Battery Information Battery Rechargeable Yes Miscellaneous Additional Information PC Cam Motion Detection Fancy ID Voice Recording Platform Support PC Mac