Canon HG10 Vs. HV20

chokingthealligator

chokingthealligator

Having had a look around online this decision is quickly turning into a nightmare. I want to record footage that looks like film (both have 24p cinema mode) but everyone seems to have differeing opnions - apparantly the HV20 24p looks better than the HG10 but the use of Hard drive to store rather than tapes I prefer, even though there is no back up.

Plus the HG10 is surprisingly about £250 cheaper... Has anyone used the HG10 that can comment? Also the fact that the HG10 uses AVCHD rather than DV appears to be a problem because it makes the 24p option of the HG10 'Unusable' due to lack of programmes to decode it or something?

If any light can be she don this situation that would be amazing,

Thanks guys :)
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
I admit that I'm not an expert in cameras by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell you that we used the HV20 as a second unit camera for our last feature film with mixed results. It wasn't bad, but the lack of not being "real" 24fps hurt us.

We just got the HV40 because it does "true" 24fps. Haven't even had a chance to play with it yet, but I'm optimistic.

But again, this is just me repeating what I know from discussions with my resident "camera guy".
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I wouldn't get the hard drive based camera. They're very susceptible to shock, as in.. oops dropped it, damn lost all my footage.

If you prefer something other than tape, look at the canon HF series, basically all the same specs, but uses SD cards instead of tape or Hard Drive.

As for pulling the 24p out of the interlaced stream, get yourself a copy of NeoScene from cineform for about $130 USD, it'll do the pulldown removal and leave you with progressive footage for any of these canon cameras, including the HV's, HG's, HF's and HFS's that all use AVCHD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
thanks for the help guys, I'm always carfeul when I'm about to spend a load of cash on something expensive like this. Is it easy to use SD cards and DV tapes? It seems a lot less hassle when it comes to converting to use an HDD camcorder and also in terms of transfer rates between cam and computer...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
When it comes to converting, I'd imagine you'll have to go through the same process whether you record on HDD or flash memory - I can't imagine the read speeds will be drastically different, and anyway it's the transcoding that takes a long time. One bonus of flash memory over HDD is that there are no moving parts: as mentioned above, that makes it less likely to break, but it also makes it quieter, and could mean better battery life.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
An SD card is basically the same as a hard drive, without moving parts. There's a reason the pro cameras are moving to various forms of flash memory (CF Cards, SD, etc), because it's the really the best tool for the job these days.

DV Tape is simple. hook camera up to computer with firewire cable, and tell your NLE to import. Done, you've got footage to edit.

SD, same idea, but think of it like a digital still camera. Pull the SD card, put it into your card reader, and copy the files over. Or plug in a usb cable and use the camera as the card reader.

Hard Drive cameras work just fine, but given the sensitive nature of a hard drive, I'd never personally spend money on one. If someone gave one to me I'd consider using it, but I'd never buy one.

The only real concern is whether your computer can handle editing AVCHD or not. It takes a good deal of processing power, and the recommended system is not less than a dual core with 3 gig of memory. Preferably more.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Will Vincent said:
The only real concern is whether your computer can handle editing AVCHD or not. It takes a good deal of processing power, and the recommended system is not less than a dual core with 3 gig of memory. Preferably more.
Click to expand...

Though a lot of NLEs still don't have native support for AVCHD... I convert to ProRes, which takes up a lot of space, but I can edit in real time on a laptop.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
chilipie said:
Though a lot of NLEs still don't have native support for AVCHD... I convert to ProRes, which takes up a lot of space, but I can edit in real time on a laptop.
Click to expand...
Yeah, AVCHD really isn't a good editing format anyway, so using an intermediate codec is always preferable.. even if you're editing HDV footage rather than AVCHD footage. ProRes isn't available on the PC. I use cineform, which offers all the same benefits (I briefly mentioned this earlier)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Will Vincent said:
Yeah, AVCHD really isn't a good editing format anyway, so using an intermediate codec is always preferable.. even if you're editing HDV footage rather than AVCHD footage. ProRes isn't available on the PC. I use cineform, which offers all the same benefits (I briefly mentioned this earlier)
Click to expand...

Ah, must have missed you mention it before, s'what comes from reading threads on my phone :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
This thread has been a great help to me. I'm just getting started in the whole area of film making, but this was a good read for me, as my first camera is going to be a Canon VIXIA HF20.

I'd love to get something more expensive, but it is my first time out. :-) Have to learn to walk before you can run, right? :yes:

I'm also looking at the Neoscene that Will Vincent mentioned. This forum has already proved it's worth to me. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top