Choosing a camcorder HV20 or XM2?

I wanted to buy a new camcorder but should I stay with SD or go for a HD camera? I said in the video that the US version is XG2 - sorry, I should have said GL2.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• canon
• xm2
• xm1
• GL1
• GL2
• hv20
• hv30
• HD
• SD
• camcorder
• choosing
• alan starkie
• al's eclectic channel

[AirooVision]

It is a kind of funny, that i used the Canon XM1 to record the "Get so calm" production

[alanstarkie2001]

@AirooVision ...and I remember asking you what you thought of the camera and I bought one! I use a Lumix GH13 these days!

[dochrissi66]

isn't the handgrip of the xm 2 on the false side or is that a special camcorder for left handers?

[alanstarkie2001]

I didn't spot this straight away. I did that recording on the iSight camera on my Mac, everything seems to be mirror imaged! Don't worry, it isn't a left-hand drive model!

[alanstarkie2001]

Here's an idea - check out the Sanyo X-Acti VPC-CG10. This is a tiny camcorder, records in 720p HD, really nice picture and doubles as a 10MP still camera. Since it's dirt cheap, you can experiment with HD. They are great but not quite as good as others in low light. I've checked out some of your videos - try & get Instant HD - you will get an improvement on what is already pretty good. There's a demo video on their website.

[alanstarkie2001]

If you have an up-to-date PC shouldn't be a problem, I use a Mac. Check whatever editing software you're going to use for minimum computer specs. Here's another one to think about. Tape, hard disc or memory card? HD and SD for that matter take up a lot of gigs in storage. While you can archive onto DVD, I find tape useful and cheap. Once I've finished editing, I can archive the movie in full resolution onto tape through my camera. Some cameras don't have an eyepiece viewfinder, useless in sun!

[thanep1000]

I really like the Sony handycam series. You should check them out. They record really nice videos that I've seen. Also, what requirements does my computer need to edit HD?

[alanstarkie2001]

One last point - the technique I used to convert to HD was just to make a 720p movie from SD footage on iMovie. There is a plugin for Premiere, After Efeecets & Final Cut called Instant HD that does a much better job at upscaling SD to HD. If I used this, the footage would be much sharper. Sorry about the shaky camera work - I couldn't use a tripod at that spot.

[alanstarkie2001]

Hi, I went through that process. There is no doubt about it, HD cameras do give excellent results especially when played back through the TV. If, like me, you were only interested in playing back through the computer, a good SD camera is fine. My current SD cam is still the XM2 which I really like. Check out my video called 'Avro Vulcan XH558 Riat 2009'. This is shot on the Canon but uploaded as HD. It'll be a couple of years before I change to HD. Also, is your computer up to editing HD?