GUIDE TO DVD CAMCORDERS

Canon HG10 AVCHD 40GB High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Manufacturer : Canon
In Stock : 20

List Price:	$1,299.99
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Features

Record up to 15 hours of high-definition video to 40 GB hard disk drive
Canon full-HD CMOS sensor; 24p Cinema Mode
High-definition 10x optical zoom lens; 2.7-inch widescreen Multi-Angle Vivid LCD
SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer; simulatneous still-photo capture
HDMI terminal; advanced accessory shoe

Product Description

The Canon HG10 AVCHD Format Hard Disk Drive Camcorder delivers high definition technology with the effortless ease of recording video directly onto a hard disk. Incorporating the latest AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format, it puts superb image reproduction and advanced features at your fingertips in a compact AVCHD Format HDD camcorder, which means you'll carry it everywhere you want to capture the special moments in your life in true HD. Among the Canon Exclusive features on the HG10 are Canon's own Full HD CMOS sensor and advanced DIGIC DV II image processor. More exclusives are SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization, Instant Auto Focus and our new 2.7" Widescreen Multi-Angle Vivid LCD. With the Genuine Canon 10x HD video zoom lens and a host of other advanced features the HG10 is the right choice in HDD camcorders. Canon Exclusive - SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization Canon Exclusive - Instant AF 24 fps Cinema Mode HDD Photo Grab from Video 2.7 Multi-Angle Vivid Widescreen LCD Superb Shooting Control Advanced Photo Features to 3 Megapixel Programmed AutoExposure modes Minimum Focusing Distance 10 mm (wide)/ 1m (tele) White Balance - Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H Image Stabilization - SuperRange Optical (lens shift) Viewfinder - Widescreen 0.27 Color Viewfinder/ (Approx. 123,000 pixels) Recording Media - Hard Disk Drive 40 GB (Internal) Audio - HD - Dolby Digital 2ch (AC-3 2ch) Dimensions - (WxHxD) 3.2 x 3.0 x 5.1 inch; Weight (not including lens and battery pack) 1.1 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating of 4.50 out of 88 reviews

Rating :
Best Picture - Mayumi Ozaki, May 02, 2008

This was my family's first HD camcorder. We had a really old SONY camcorder that lasted for 8 years, but it finally died. We were in a hurry to get a camcorder, but I thought we should get a pretty descent one and found this. The SONY one's cost over $1000 this cost $800. This camcorder has great picture quality. It looks like your actually in it. The battery life might be a little short, but you could get a bigger one. It comes with cables, so you can watch the recorded video and also comes with software that lets you edit and burn videos.

Rating :
Totally Cool - Mr. David Hoang, Apr 28, 2008

I'll let the other reviews speak for themselves. I bought this for my brother. I noticed similar issues as other folks with a few new issues:

- doesn't record in multiple resolutions. I can live with that.

- "mode" button looks like a zoom button. You get used to it.

- wider angle lens would be nice.

Otherwise, it's a great camera. The Panasonic/Sony cameras have better lenses, but they also cost more. This is a great camera for the feature set: Hard drive, good lens, good video processor, good sensor, all for $721. Without sales tax, it makes the camera 8.25% sweeter than it would otherwise be.

Rating :
Great Camera - John Kniat, Apr 25, 2008

The Canon HG10 makes very clear movies and photographs. The camerea is compact and fits in my cargo shorts pocket. The camera is simple to use, yet has many features. Playback onto my HDTV is definitely high def. Using a HDMI cable makes hookup the fastest ever. The Ulead Video software packaged with the Canon is really terrible. A 40 minute movie took 6 hours overnight to format to a DVD disk, features are minimal

Rating :
File-size limit of 2GB - Program to put pieces together. - Kenneth W. Ross, Apr 25, 2008

I bought the HG10 around the 1st of the year. Great camcorder, with one problem... it breaks the files up into 2GB pieces. I wrote a program to stitch them back together. Send me an email and I'll send you the program.

Here's my post on the DVi forum (http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=867117#post867117):

I found this discussion yesterday after searching the web for info on the 2GB size-limited files produced by the Canon HG10. After reading the entire thread, I was happy to see that you had found a work-around solution that didn't corrupt the splice-points of the files. That got me to thinking about writing a Windows-base program to do the same thing. So... I did just that! It's not as slick and robust as it could be, but it does the job. Here's some info...

The program's first dialog allows you to select multiple files from the same directory. These are the pieces that the HG10 broke your files into. You select the files by clicking on the first one to highlight it and the depressing the "shift" key and click on the last one in the list. All of your files should then be highlighted. (this is just standard Windows file-selection stuff here, but in case there's someone that's not familiar...) Alternately, you can press the "Ctrl" key and select individual files until you've highlighted all that are in the sequence.

The program DOES NOT try to figure out if two video files actually belong in the same resultant file. I trust you to identify only the files that made up the original sequence. With that said, my program DOES make sure that the files that you select are processed in the right order. That is, in the numbering sequence as produced by the HG10. For instance, file "00055.MTS" comes before file "00056.MTS".

The second file-selection dialog allows you to specify a directory and file name for the resultant, contiguous file.

Once you've identified all files, the program goes about building the contiguous file. I currently use 10MB buffers for reading and writing data. This allows pretty fast operation. For a couple of segments, this amounts to about 3 minutes 11.5 seconds on my 2.3Ghz Core 2 Duo. It's single-threaded so it ties up one processor. If folks want a more robust operation, I'll try to find time to work on it and smooth it out. I just thought you'd want to get it ASAP...

There are 2 files to this program... the "MTS_FileJoinerProj.exe" file which is the executable and weighs in at about 30KB, and the "borlndmm.dll" file which is only another 24KB. Put them in a folder called "FileJoiner" and hook them up to your "Start" button by moving the folder to "C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersStart MenuPrograms". Start the program by clicking "Start->Programs->FileJoiner->MTS_FileJoiner.exe"

I haven't had any problems with it, but cannot guarantee its operation. Test it on copies of your files, just to gain confidence that it's working properly.

If you like it and it helps you, please consider throwing a couple of bucks in my Paypal account (thesuperstitions@gmail.com). Anything collected will be donated to my son's Cub Scout Pack (Pack 618).

Thanks!

Rating :
Make sure you initialize the drive first! - JGFox, Apr 24, 2008

I was concerned about purchasing the HG10 because of the controversial AVCHD format and the lack of computer software support for it. Fortunately for me, I'm a Mac user with an Intel Core Duo Macbook Pro and iMovie '08 (required for importing AVCHD files from the HG10) so I thought it'd be extremely simple to work with the HG10. It wasn't but I'll get to that momentarily.

Once I received the HG10 I shot sample videos at night and had someone shoot video of the outdoors while I drove to gauge high speed recording.

Night Recording - Recording at night is probably the weakest feature of the camcorder because the video quality is kinda crappy in low light situations. The HG10 does feature a night mode for shooting at this time but I still wouldn't recommend the HG10 if you plan to record in low light/night situations often.

High Speed Recording - After shooting the first videos at a high speed (60 mph) it occurred to me that most consumer camcorders aren't going to be capable of capturing quality video at high speeds. That being said, the video quality was decent enough given the price. If you plan to use the HG10 to record cityscapes or anything that requires driving, I'd recommend the HG10 only up to about 30 mph.

When I tried to download these clips to my Macbook Pro via iMovie '08 the software wouldn't recognize the camera AT ALL despite the Mac recognizing the HG10 as a hard drive. I eventually figured out (after reading the manual, of course) that you need to initialize the camcorder hard drive before it will be recognized by the computer. In fact, if you fail to do so you will have to erase the entire hard drive (and any videos on it) to initialize it so it is recognizable.

After doing this iMovie '08 recognized the camera but it took iMovie '08 about 15 minutes to see that the HG10 was connected. Every time I connect it iMovie '08 takes about 5-15 minutes to recognize the HG10 and bring up the import window.

Now for some general observations of the HG10 since I've only had it for about two weeks:

1) It's USB only to the computer so transferring video files can take a LONG time if you film in HD and use the 5 hours or so that the camcorder is capable of holding.

2) Buy an external drive to store the videos after working with them. The HG10 is addicting and lightweight so you'll be taking lots of videos in no time and will need a place to store them. I bought a Lacie 750GB external drive to store the movie files and so far it's exceeded my expectations (firewire, USB connections make for easy transfers).

3) Buy a tripod! I bought a Sunpak tripod from Best Buy for $35 and it serves as an excellent tripod for the HG10. I also use it for my Canon SD800 IS and soon will use it for my Rebel XTi. The HG10 is terrific at offsetting camera shake but no technology will ever compensate 100% for human error.

4) Sports Mode is my favorite mode. I like Portrait mode but I feel its too soft for most things that I do. Sports mode is designed to capture fast movement with as little ghosting and blur as possible.

5) I have relatively medium to large hands and I find the zoom buttons to be too far back on the camera to really be useful while the camera is in your hand. Fantastic positioning for tripod use though.

I hope to update this review as I use the camcorder more. I haven't used the still mode yet but as a rule of thumb I would suggest getting a good still camera (SD IS line or Rebel series) instead because I can see the HG10 being a bit awkward to use primarily as a point and shoot camera.

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