2nd Best Hard Drive Camcorder for the price!! (buy the GZMG255 instead)

3/15/08 UPDATE (read initial review below) - I have now bought 3 different JVCs - the initial GZMG330 (rated below) the upgraded GZMG730 and last year's GZMG255. I bought the latter two after I was not 100% satisfied with the 330's video.



After buying all three from Amazon and testing side-by-side/same video events there is a CLEAR hands-down winner of these 3. The 330 (about $450) is the bottom end of JVCs new lineup but only has a 680k pixel CCD (effective is actually 340k and it shows) and a f1.8 lens. The 730 (about $730) is the top of the new JVC line with a 7+ MP CCD BUT a very small f3.5 lens (no idea why). The smaller the f-stop the less light will be available for filming. Between these 2 the 730 definitely took overall better video but the 7+ MP CCD really does not improve it that much. Plus the smaller f3.5 lens on the 730 makes it near impossible to film in very low light conditions. JVC would have hit a home run if they simply would have used the f1.2 lenses on the new lineup no idea why they failed to do this.



Then I did more research and read about the JVC GZMG255 last year's jewel. It essentially has ALL the same functionality of the new 330/730 line except a toggle button on the side of the screen vs. the cool laser-touch menu system on the 330/730. HOWEVER the 255 has a HUGE f1.2 lens which officially lets in 2x the light of a f1.8 lens (330 has that) and 4x more than a f3.5 lens (730 has that still don't know why). The end result is a FAR SUPERIOR low-light brilliance on the video and resolution on the 255 is as good as or better than the top of the line 730 and DEFINITELY better than the new 330. The 255 can be had for about the same price as the new 330. So trade in the cool laser touch screen for the nearly-as-cool toggle button menu system and get 2x better video. SERIOUSLY!! Plus it can do everything the new ones can including the 1-button DVD burning feature whcih works beautifully and simply. I still give the 330 a 5-star rating for the price but for the same price GET THE GZMG255 and you will thank me all the way to the TV screen when you view your video.



ORIGINAL REVIEW FOLLOWS BELOW --

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I did 2+ months of research before finally buying a hard-drive camcorder and I was dismayed by many of the reviews -some perfect scores some zero's on the same camcorder. Quickly figured out the professional-level and amateur are both reviewing these things with very differnt viewpoints and needs. Hopefully this review will help all of you!



I have owned 4 higher-end camcorders for the past 10 years - those that the "normal" consumer (family) would buy for use without having to pay $1000 or more (all of mine were $600 or less). I am NOT a professional photographer but rather a very avid/busy photographer interested in capturing family experiences - concerts sporting events graduations vacations pets grandparents family times etc - what 95% of us use camcorders for. All the previous camcorders I have owned have been 1MP or better CCDs to provide the best video possible for the "normal" user without paying more than $600 for any one of them. I have historically only owned Canon and JVC camcorders and recommend both lines.



All previous camcorders were mini-DV tape format - I just recently had 100+ tapes converted to all DVDs - very nice if you have not done so yet. It will cost you about $11-13 per DVD (2 hours of video) to get yours professionally transferred with menus etc. Well worth the $$. I just resold my previous Canon Elura70 1.3MP camcorder which served me well for 3+ years. I wanted to move to the "future" and go with either a DVD HD or flash-drive or combo. Something that would allow me to better archive and copy my footage myself (DVDs etc).



After 2+ months of reviewing I was all but sold on the Canon HG-10 - high-def multi-MP camcorder with a hard drive. Reviews were very strong. But I liked the size/features of the JVC. The HG-10 looked unbeatable. Then I went to a store and compared them side-by-side and was pleasantly surprised by the JVC performance and feel (in the store) and by the notable size difference (HG-10 about twice the size). I decided to take a chance on the JVC even though it was not high-def 1+MP CCD resolution etc.



For the above explained purposes this camcorder is hands down THE BEST VALUE and size and features and results that the "normal" user can ask for at this price. The size is phenominally small the features ergonomics and usage are near perfect and the video quality is excellent to very good under most instances. I have now used this to film outdoors indoors and what I consider a VERY difficult scenario - a high school concert dimly lit in a big auditoruim with bright backlighting behind the performers and from a distance of several hundred feet zooming in 20x or more to see a full face image (my 16-year old) in the screen. Under this very difficult scenario and viewing the video on my 52-inch 1080P Samsung (a VERY unforgiving LCD TV for less-than high-def images - remember the larger the playback monitor the harder it is on video as it will show every imperfection in the signal/images) the video was EXCELLENT up to a zoom length of about 22x. After 22x zoom (which is pretty darn far) the image got somewhat grainy on the 52" TV. Images at less than 22x zoomed on my huge TV looked phenominal under these poor image filming conditions. This is impressive if you consider the zoom ratio (and hand-held!) and then played back on a hi-res 52" monitor!!! When viewed on a smaller 20" TV or my 17" computer monitor the zoomed video looked flawless in these dim conditions up to the full 35x optical zoom - I was impressed and sold on keeping the camcorder. The digital image stabilizer works well once zoomed to where you are going but a bit jittery while zooming - I did the above hand-held resting my elbow on the seat armrest only and had NO jitters in the image once zoomed in or out. I was blown away by the quality of this less-than 1MP less-than-Hi-def CCD sensor even given the tough situation/playback described above - BUY THIS CAMCORDER!!!!

All other videos I took under normal lighting - in the house during the day outside etc. were flawless when viewed on my 52" TV.



There is an Auto mode (everything done for you) and a Manual mode where you can adjust the most common settings (white balance shutter speed "scenes" or enhancements to the video etc.) I tried both and for most of what I will ever do (and have done for 12+ years) Auto is all you need.



The laser-touch slide bar for menu access is intuitively genious and easy to use. Menu's are simple and understandable the users guide is brief and informative and within 15 minutes I understood every feature of this machine. Battery usage has been reported less than great but I get a full 90-100 minutes from the standard battery - just buy another one for a spare. And the on-screen battery life sensor (minutes remaining) is way cool with JVC batteries.



Burning DVD is SIMPLE and connectivity is SIMPLE on this camcorder. I was able to burn and copy a DVD with the push of 1 button when connected to my desktop that has a DVD burner. Very simple to use. I am 100% sold on this camcorder for what I (and most people) will ever use it for.



I cannot underscore the simplicity of usage. That on top of the image quality sold me.



For stills don't even bother using this - I did not even try (seriously) and never will. If you are a true photographer even amateur spend $150 and get a 6+MP digital Canon camera or similar fits in your shirt pocket and KEEP STILLS SEPARATE FROM VIDEOS!! I have had 2MP CCD video camcorders in the past that took terrible stills so why bother???? THIS IS A VIDEO CAMERA!! I would love to see manfacturers stop trying to combine both into 1 package.



If you are a high-end videographer you need to skip this (why are you even considering a camcorder for under $500????) buy at least the Canon HG-10 (which is wonderful except a clunk in size compared to the JVC) or go for an even better camcorder and spend an extra $500 doing so. For the price this is more than 99% of what the normal users will ever need and expect for under $600. Period.



My only reccomendation to JVC - consider upgrading the CCD to a true 1MP or better for enhanced low-light video imagery. This is a wish list only item as the images are pretty darn good as-is and the larger f1.2 lens and 1+MP CCD that would be required for that will defeat the size/form factor that you get with the 330.



Bottom line - best darn harddrive based mini-camcorder out there at close to this price - BUY IT!! (and you can choose any of the cool colors - a WOW factor to say the least). And if you buy from a reuptable dealer you'll have 15-30 days to test it like I did and not worry about having to return it. If that happens nothing lost just get the HG-10 or better!!

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Best hard drive camcorder ever

I have been using camcorders since 1985 and I've used almost every possible format available to consumers. As of Oct. 2007 I can firmly say that this is by far the best camcorder ever in terms of the picture quality convenience and the price. Although there are some limitations in the AVCHD format (I don't want to repeat here again) the convenience of the hard drive made me choose the HG10 and I have absolutely no regret at all.



First of all I would like to clarify other reviewer's information that might misguide some folks. The HG10 does include the software to transfer and to edit the video footage for a PC. It comes with Ulead DVD MovieFactory SE for editing and burning DVDs and AVCHD-DVDs (can be playable on some blu-ray players and Playstation 3. It's a dvd that has HD pictures). If other reviewers have only a Mac their complaints are valid since the HG10 only includes a picture browser to handle the still pictures not video for a Mac.



For the most consumers like me the DVD MovieFactory works pretty well. I just burned a standard DVD (yes an MPEG2 DVD that you watch everyday) with the DVD MovieFactory and am very satisfied with the result. Converting HD pictures to the SD format does not degrade the original HD quality much and I was impressed by that. I added chapter marks made menus and did little editing. Editing the AVCHD format needs a ton of processing power. If you don't have a fast computer (dual core 2 ghz or faster) it will be extremely slow. I was using a Pentium 4 3.6 GHz 2 gigs RAM Windows Vista Business PC to make a DVD and it worked OK. Making an AVCHD-DVD is faster since it does not need to re-encode the video files. If you don't do a complicate editing job and want to merge video clips from the HG10 and burn a DVD you could use a slower computer for that purpose. I have experience using Adobe Premiere Ulead VideoStudio and iMovie (for Mac). Although DVD MovieFactory might not be the right tool for the professional work it is quite good for a home use. I surprised my friends with the DVDs created from it. My only gripe is a complicated software activation process. You should read the software instructions carefully to avoid the hassle (specially the web link in the last page). I wasted 2 hours just to activate the software.



Yes the HG10 does not have an IEEE1394 (or firewire or iLink whatever you call it) port. However it does not need one. All the footages are already stored in AVCHD format and you only need to transfer those files to your computer. If you have to capture the video and encode it to a file from the magnetic tape (MiniDV) you might need an IEEE1394 port. However for the HG10 you don't need to do that. If you look at other hard drive based camcorders they don't have it either (they mostly have a USB port). Right before the HG10 I used a Sony DCR-SR100 and it does not have a firewire port either.



The HG10 has a mini HDMI (type C) port so if you want to connect the HG10 via HDMI you'll need to order a mini-HDMI to HDMI (type C to type A) cable. The HG10 only includes a composite A/V cable and a component video cable. My minor complaint is that it does not come with a shoulder strap. This toy costs $1000 so a nice looking shoulder strap should be given (I am using one from an old Canon ZR camcorder).



I was told that the HG10 uses the same optical mechanism as Canon HV20 which is known to be the best consumer HD camcorder on the market (it records in HDV format on tapes not AVCHD on the hard drive). So I expected that the picture quality would be pretty good and I was right. If you have a full 1080p HD display you will be amazed. Personally I use a 720p projector at home and am quite impressed by the quality of the picture. Unlike Sony AVCHD camcorders the sound is recorded in 2 channel Dolby Digital format (Sony records in 5.1 channel Dolby Digital). The good thing about 2 channel recording is that it does not record my breath. With 5.1 channel recording you can easily hear your breathing sound since two of the mics are catching rear sound.



For the low light performance (like indoor shot) the HG10 is comparatively better than any other consumer level camcorder on the market that I have seen. However don't expect too much. It cannot be compared to the low light quality of a $3000 camcorder. My impression is that its low light picture quality is closest to a decent 3CCD high-priced consumer level camcorder.



I have been waiting for long to have an excellant hard drive based AVCHD camcorder. There are many hard drive based camcorders on the market now and none of these have caught my attention for some minor reasons such as no external mic jack no usb port on the camcorder or the poor low light performance. Finally I found the right one and am so happy that I waited.



Thanks to Canon for introducing good equipment at the right price (under a grand). I hope this review helps some people who have waited like me.



== Update as of Feb. 12 2008



As of today I have been using the HG10 for more than 4 months. I have taken so many precious moments and this camcorder never disappoints me. The best moment I had was the day I brought this camcorder to my friend's home for a party. I connected it to Samsung LNT4065F 40" 1080p LCD HDTV and showed a junior high soccer tournament game. Everyone I mean everyone in that house said "Wow." The picture quality coming out of this combination was AMAZING !! I felt like I was watching an HD documentary from BBC or National Geographic. As I said in the review I use an HG10 with a 1080i/720p projector (Epson Cinema 400 3 LCD projector) but the HG10 picture coming out from the Samsung LCD TV was truly exceptional and far superior (very bright and way more crisp). I have never seen such a good picture coming from any other consumer level camcorder. Although the indoor shots have some grainy pictures (I tested some indoor video shots too) the outdoor shots are flawless. Most of my friends who saw it wanted to buy the HG10 and I started to dream about having the Samsung LNT4065F LCD TV ever since. :)



The only drawback that I have found new from the HG10 is that if you want to transfer video files from the HG10 to a computer you must have an AC adapter (correct me if I am wrong). Sometimes I want to transfer video to a friend's computer right after I take it. However if I don't have the AC adapter for the HG10 it simply refuses to do it (it asks me to hook it up). This is very cumbersome to me.



I just heard that the new Sony hard drive camcorder has a 120GB hard drive. However the 5 hr 30 mins of video in highest quality that I can take from the HG10 is still pretty good.



If I had to choose a camcorder today I would choose the HG10 again. I can't wait to see what the next version of the HG10 can do.



== Update for the Mac users as of Mar. 29 2008



I recently bought a MacBook and found out one thing that I want to share with other Mac users. First of all the HG10 does work with iMovie '08 and Leopard OS (10.5) on intel Macs. If you connect the HG10 to the Mac all the importing process will go very smoothly. You should be patient since the Mac converts AVCHD files from the HG10 to their propriety format (it increase the size of the original files to 7-10 times). However iMovie '08 does not import .mts or .m2ts files directly. iMovie can only import AVCHD files from the HG10 or the storage space (external hard drive) that exactly has the same directory structure like the HG10. I mean it does not import individual .mts (.m2ts) files. I have searched through many apple discussion forums and have not found solutions for it.



If someone only saves .mts or .m2ts files without having the original directory structure (it means no meta data video files only) like me he/she has to use the conversion utility like Voltaic to convert .mts or .m2ts files. If you have a non-Intel Mac you can import AVCHD files this way (converting through the utility like Voltaic) only though. This conversion process takes significant amount of time and the storage space.



I wish iMovie can directly handle .mts (.m2ts) files soon. Until then I should stick with the bundled Ulead software on PC for my old video backups. Disappointed...



== Update for the YouTube lovers as of May. 22 2009



I still love the HG10. It is the best. Probably you already know about this. YouTube allows to upload the .mts or .m2ts files created by AVCHD camcorders. So you can upload the file directly without any conversion process on YouTube and it is HD. I cannot thank YouTube enough about it.More detail ...

Very good camcorder

I bought this camcorder after a lot of research and I'm glad I made the right choice. The only camcorder comparable with SR65 was the JVC MG330 or MG360. JVC 330/360 has less than 1 mega pixels and the price difference between the two was not much and I found it was worth spending on the extra resolution for better video quality.



Video Quality : Very Good. I ve taken video Outdoors and Indoors. On burning and playing it on 27 inch flat tube Sony TV it proves to be very close to or almost DVD quality especially for outdoor .



Audio Quality : Dolby Digital. Very good sound quality.



Camera Menus : Easy and Intuitive



Ergonomics : Pretty small. Easy to handle and buttons are easy reachable.



Still Image : I would not care to take still image using this it s as good as taking pictures on a cell or PDA.



Zoom : 25x is good enough. Anything above that would be difficult to hold it steady unless you would be using a tripod.



As long as you re not looking to spend over $800 for a High-Def quality for which you need to have High-Def LCD High-Def burner HDMI and the entire package this camera is just perfect for the low $500 range.More detail ...

A good camera for the price

My fiance and searched high and low for a good camera that would fit in our budget. Our inital reason for needing one is to record our wedding but with kids and whatnot in the future we wanted a camera that wouldn't be obsolete next week.



We were going back and forth between a Sony SR-42 which is Sony's newest model in HDD which was $599 at Best Buy compared to the $499 we paid for the JVC. The Sony supposedly has a better lens but we couldn't tell. The salesman at Best Buy said that unless you were looking for differences you really wouldn't see them.



The biggest difference we found between the two cameras was the optical zoom. When you were set on a higher zoom the JVC was able to keep focus better. With the Sony if you were at a 30x optical zoom and moved the camera everything went blurry and it took some time to re-focus. At the same zoom the JVC didn't do that. That is what really swayed us towards the JVC.



We would have rated the JVC with 5 stars if there had been a port to plug in a microphone or external lighting to the camera. The Sony didn't have that either-you had to buy a more expensive model of either brand in order to get those features.



The software seems to be pretty user-friendly on our XP operating system but we haven't needed to burn anything (30GB holds a lot of stuff!). Hopefully that will go smoothly.



We've been happy with picture quality so far and we don't exactly have the latest and greatest in terms of our TV. The functions are pretty easy to use on the camera. We preferred buttons to the touch screen on the Sony. The LCD on the camera is really nice and swivels in just about every direction. The camera is so light you forget you're holding it.



We haven't purchased an SD card for the still-photo portion since we both have digital cameras but switching back and forth between the still function and video function only requires a flick of the thumb on the on/mode button.



Overall we've very happy with the camera. We went to Best Buy to purchase it and got the warranty which covers cleanings and just about any form of damage (including if I drop it which could very well happen) except loss or theft. Hopefully we'll continue to be happy with our purchase. More detail ...

The Last Camcorder you will ever need

I've now had this camera for about a month now and I couldn't be happier. The video quality is STUNNING as well as the recording sounds. It comes with a base and proprietary power and video cords (both component-HD and composite which means that they are not interchangable with over the counter video cords) but thats ok. It also has the software for transferring the videos and photos to your CPU. Back to the picture and sound... amazing really. The sound records in 5.1 surround which is so cool plus you have many options on the video such as night vision black and white sepia old movie mold etc and some of them you can combine (I did night vision with black and white to make a short zombie movie it looks wicked). There are so many possibilities with this cam. The play back is all touch screen which the screen can get smeared by fingerprints (easy to wipe out) but I suggest buying a stylus. Of course if you hook it to your television it does come with a remote control and you can do everything with that remote except for deleting images. But that is a positive because you don't want to accidentally delete your images. And it does ask for you to confirm deleting so it's hard to do that accidentally.



Plus it's a great photography camera. With the flick of a thumb you can change from filming to photographer easy and it takes crystal clear pictures in 10.5 mega pixel. Although I do find it a bit awkward to reach the photo button. Now it takes better picture in photo mode then it do in filming mode (While filming you can snap a picture also)



Another word on the night vision I had all the lights off and it films in that greenish color sort of like the movie Cloverfield. But even filming at night without the night vision on it picks up everything. I had a buddy drive at night while I was shooting and the only lights were coming from headlights and streetlamps (when we passed them) and you saw everything on the camera that you could see with you naked eye and I even thought it was better than my eye.



Now when you film and take pictures it organizes the images according to date and when you film several scenes it will play them one after another without a bit of a pause. The camera also has little doors on the back and the side so you can hook up your cords without the base which is good. Also inside of one of the doors are an hdmi output a headphones output and a mic input. I ran my iPod through the mic input to make a music video and it turned out great (although be sure not to have your iPod any louder than half).

The camera also has a one touch DVD burning button on the camera and the base but I haven't used it yet.



The only real negative is that the battery only last 90 minutes but I bought a bigger battery which last 14 hours. That battery weighs as much or more than the camera (the camera is really light) and it sticks out the back some but that isn't really that big of a deal.



The software is pretty smart. You hook the camcorder with the use of the provided usb cable (after loading the software) and it finds the camcorder and asks if you want to transfer all the items to your computer. But the cool thing is that you can keep those images on your camcorder after transfer film other stuff hook you camera back up to the computer and it will only transfer items that haven't been transferred yet. This is good because you don't have to try to figure out what has or haven't been transfer and you don't get dup copies or that annoying message about whether you want to overwrite a file. And it organizes by date and you can do a total calendar view and see what dates you filmed on. When it organized and transfer to your CPU it organized by date filmed not date transfer which is extremely helpful especially if you visit multiple locations during multiple dates.



This is really the last camcorder you will possibly buy for many many years. The only thing is that it has so many cool accessories you can buy like wide-angle lenses telescopic lenses attachable lights and underwater case etc that you may eventually end up with a $2500-3000 total purchase when you are done. The accessories are not a necessity but they do look like a lot of fun.

Auto focusing can be a pain at times but it does have a manual focus which you can set to infinity and if you zoom set it up on a tripod.

Oh and one last thing I actually filmed something for 5 minutes that was playing on my plasma in HD and it look as if its the movie itself.

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Pleased - Would buy it again

I've recorded probably just 10 hours with the camera and I am pleased with my purchase of this camera. My wife and I were expecting our first baby (who was born 7/9/08) and I had done quite a bit of research before deciding to but this particular model. I "test drove" several different brands and models by JVC and decided that the Everio was the route I wanted to go. The good things about this camera that I've noticed thus far are the battery life the massive 60 GB hard drive the built-in light the size and definitely the price. There are points that I would like to warn folks about. The video and audio recording quality is decent but not exceptional. If you are looking for a camera based upon purely video and audio quality you might want to look at something else. The video files are shot with proprietary files with a .MOD extension. Although file extensions and video files are relatively simple to convert you can't just drag and drop the .MOD files in most applications. The software that is bundled with the camera will convert the files to any type that you want but this is just another step or another application that you must go through to burn your movies via PC. I haven't yet got the direct burn stations that JVC markets but I am willing to try them just to make it a bit easier to get my movies on DVDs. For the most part to view our movies we hook the camera directly up to the TV...which works very well for quick video showings.



All in all for my entry level camcorder and the way in which we will use this camera I am happy that I chose this model (Everio GZ-MG360). I hope my little review will help...because I know how nerve-racking shopping for a camcorder can be!More detail ...

Canon VIXIA HFS10 HD is as close as you can get to professional camcorder in terms of video quality

Canon VIXIA HFS10 is currently the top-of-the-line Canon consumer camcorder. It takes very good quality full HD video (one of the best among consumer level camcorders). The optical image stabilization is very useful and face detection is accurate. Autofocus is very fast and the menu system is intuitive. Low light capability is decent (but improved a lot by using the video light for video recording or internal flash for taking photos). The pre-recording mode is very useful for shooting sport action fireworks child and other scenarios where it is often hard to predict when those Kodak moments will exactly be until it has happened/passed. It also has filter thread so you can install lens filter to enhance the video/image and to protect the lens. The LCD is very sharp and clear from wide viewing angle. It has a dual shooting mode where video recording and photo taking can be done without switching settings.



Taking photos with Canon VIXIA HFS10 is also very good. Image quality is very sharp with 8.59-megapixel CMOS image sensor that is also found in Canon DSLR. Taking photos in continuous mode is also very good (about 4 frames per second comparable to DSLR cameras) however the shutter response is nowhere near the DSLR (it's slower than DSLR) and I'm used to the DSLR almost no-lag shutter response so I will continue to use my DSLR cameras most of the time. For point and shoot customers they won't notice the shutter lag (as it is the same if not better than most point and shoot camera) and they will probably be able to replace their point and shoot camera with this camcorder as it produces image quality better and sharper than most point and shoot cameras.



Pros:



1. Video quality (1920 X 1080 Full HD) comparable with many professional camcorder and is one of the best quality for consumer level

2. Image quality for photos are sharp and vivid (8 megapixel).

3. Zoom Covers super wide angle to semi-zoom (6.4mm to 64mm) before the 1.7x magnification.

4. Built in 32GB built-in flash memory

5. Very effective optical image stabilization (a combination of optical and image sensor stabilization)

6. Lens filter thread (I installed 58mm UV/Haze filter to reduce UV and also help protect the front glass element)

7. Autofocus is very fast and includes a very accurate face detection to keep people's face in sharp focus

8. up to 24 hour recording in LP mode (with 64GB total memory 32Gb built-in and 32GB SD card)

9. Innovative Pre-record mode is available (and never miss critical shots anymore)

10. Video snapshot mode (shot short movie clips and blend with music tracks)

11. Almost instant on and record (stand-by to recording in less than 1 sec and from off in less than 2 sec)

12. Continuous mode for taking photos is very fast (though the shutter lag isn't nearly as good as SLR cameras)

13. Record HD videos and take 6MP photo to memory card simultaneously

14. Small but bright video light and photo flash.

15. Built-in automatic lens cover

16. Wireless remote control included

17. Bright and clear 2.7 inch lcd screan (and the image is sharp)

18. Very easy to navigate the menu (even though there are so many options and settings available)

19. 24p cinema mode and 30p progressive mode included

20. pre-programmed video and photo mode (sunset night beach spotlight fireworks etc)

21. Aperture priority Shutter priority and Program mode available (in addition to Auto setting)

22. Dual shot mode (capture video and photo without having to change setting)



Cons:



1. Only 10x optical zoom (not sure why Canon doesn't make this top-of-the-line camcorder 20x or 30x optical zoom)

2. No seamless recording transition from one memory to the other memory

3. Included batteries only last about 75-90 minutes of recording time

4. Shutter response still not as fast as DSLR

5. Low light performance is average (improved if using the video light or internal flash)

6. A bit bulky compare to many other flash memory camcorders

7. Not the lightest camcorder but still lighter than DSLR cameras

8. 24Mbps recording mode has many restriction (require fast speed flash memory and not all DVD player can playback)

9. No touch screen LCD

10. Non-standard accessory shoe terminal (better than none though. can use VL-5 video light or DM-100 microphone)

11. Must plug in ac adapter to transfer internal memory data to computer

12. No optical viewfinder

13. HDMI cable not included

14. Doesn't come with external battery charger (use the camcorder to charge the battery instead)

15. Top-of-the-line price



In conclusion Canon VIXIA HFS10 is targeted for those who are looking for a consumer camcorder with the best video quality with a lot of internal flash memory (32GB) that can also take photo with the best image quality and the largest megapixel to date for a canon camcorder (8MP). Basically Canon Vixia HFS10 is currently the top-of-the-line Canon consumer level camcorder.



Also check out the following Canon camcorders that has comparable main feature (Full HD video and DIGIC DV III image processor) before deciding to buy Canon VIXIA HFS10 (and decide whether any of these camcorders will fit your needs therefore avoid paying the premium that Canon VIXIA HFS10 command):



- Canon VIXIA HFS100 (no internal flash memory 10x optical zoom 8.59-megapixel CMOS image sensor)

- Canon VIXIA HF20 (32GB internal flash memory 15x optical zoom only 3.89-megapixel CMOS image sensor)

- Canon VIXIA HF200 (no internal flash memory 15x optical zoom only 3.89-megapixel CMOS image sensor)



Sidarta Tanu More detail ...

Nice Camera but I want more

I bought this camera from Circuit City on the day I was to fly out on a 2 week vacation. I have a Sony HI8 but I wanted a better quality camera to archive my children's activities.



Overall the camcorder is light highly functional and meets my expectations. However I will probably return the camera. I'll go through my pros and cons:



Pros:



Lightweight

5.1 sound is great

still pictures are nice but don't use the zoom. Zoom stills are grainy

touchscreen lcd is nice and intuitive.

Quick power on is a nice feature.



Cons:

The required codec to play the files are tough to comeby. I found that Cyberlink's PowerDVD Deluxe is the only 3rd party application to play these files.

The included software is very basic and proprietary. It doesn't share the codec with media player.

The 40gig harddrive is not sufficient for the HD recordings set at the highest resolution. Why would you get an HD camera and record at low res?

I used my laptop to download. Later I found trying to play those downloaded files to be a pain.

Focus in low light conditions is poor. I found myself zooming in and out to try and get the auto focus to work properly. Looks like the SR11 has a manual focus knob.

The videos although much better than SD are not sharp and realistic like HD TV. The colors are dull and the details are not eyepopping.

Battery life: I bought the 5 hour battery and I got 1:30 life day after day.

No neck strap but big deal.

The menus were not intuitive. Too many choices and screens.



All in all for a $1000 investment I didn't feel I got the best value. I am not looking at a Cannon HG10 but I wonder how the still pictures are?



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