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Canon HV20 HDV Camcorder

Charlie White — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:59:24 -0600

If you don’t mind dealing with miniDV tape, the Canon HV20 is a fine choice. However, we prefer having nonlinear random access to shots, rather than rolling through an anachronistic tape to find a shot. We also don’t care for the cheap, plastic feel of this unit or its “advanced accessory shoe” cover that pops off with little provocation. But the HV20’s HDV format is a lot easier to edit, with that same familiar, comfortable workflow you get with DV tape: Capture clips on the PC via a FireWire port and then you’re off and editing without a lot of annoying steps in between.

We like the transport controls located just below the viewscreen, but the start-stop button and too-small zoom lever are awkwardly placed.

We especially like the way Canon includes features normally reserved for pros, such as a 24p frame rate that can be combined with the camera’s CineLook setting in order to almost mimic film’s slower frame rate and slightly diffuse look. But the star of the show is the video—the HV20 produced the most buttah-smooth video of any camera in the bunch. While colors weren’t as saturated as those produced by other cameras, they were more realistic, and the camera’s silky yet sharp-looking video had fewer of the compression artifacts we saw with AVCHD. In bright light, its images were the most crisp and vivid of the bunch. In low light, there were a few artifacts, and other cameras were superior in this area. If only it had the convenience of flash-drive storage and better ergonomics, this would be the camcorder to beat.

Flip Video 1GB

Gordon Mah Ung — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:32:36 -0500

It seems that most people would want to use a high-def video recorder to document their growing families or Star Wars action-figure collections, but can a case be made for purchasing a low-res camera? At 640x480, the Flip Video’s resolution isn’t VideoCD low, but you won’t stun your family when you proudly display your movies on a 60-inch, 1080p set.

Of course, this camera isn’t for a Blu-ray or HD DVD audience—it’s for the YouTube generation, which thinks that a horribly pixelated, low-resolution video is just dandy. Featuring 1GB of internal flash memory, which is good for one hour of video (a 512MB version is also available), the AA-powered Flip Video is about as simple to operate as a tape recorder. White balance? Fuhgetaboutit. You get record, play, and a mediocre digital zoom.

To get your video to your PC, you swing out the built-in USB connector and jack in to your rig. You can directly copy the videos to your PC, or if you really want the newb experience, you can fire up the app that’s stored on the unit, a simple web-based interface that lets you view, edit, or share your videos. You can upload directly to YouTube or Grouper.com from the device and send an email notification to your friends and family that you have posted a new video. One caveat—doing so appends a commercial for the Flip Video to the end of your clip. Hey, if they’re going to do that, shouldn’t they be paying us?

Normally, we’d hold our noses at a low-res device that looks like something you’d find at the bottom of a box of Cap’n Crunch, but even the video snob in us found it hard to hate the Flip Video. And at $150, you won’t think twice about using it as you’re thundering down Splash Mountain.

Our only problem with the Flip Video is that newer point-and-shoot digital cameras offer competitive video resolutions as well as superior still imaging. However, those still cameras cost at least twice as much as the Flip Video and aren’t as easy to use.

Oregon Scientific ATC-1000 DV Cam

Michael Brown — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 15:47:48 -0600

We described Samsung’s SC-X105L Sports Cam as being “perfect for capturing your best Jackass moments” when we reviewed it in January 2006. Oregon Scientific’s ATC-1000 could be that little camera’s even littler brother.

Sure, this DV cam maxes out at 640x480 resolution, it delivers a glacially slow capture rate of just 15 frames per second, and it’s outfitted with a miniscule 32MB of flash memory (upgradeable to a full gigabyte by way of its hidden SD memory card slot), but do you really need anything more to capture stupid human tricks?

The barrel-shaped device runs on four AAA batteries and is about the size of a rifle scope. You can fasten it to damn near anything—handlebars, pith helmet, model rocket—using the provided nylon strap and shock-absorbing rubber mount. The videos and still images we captured in our tests using the CMOS image sensor and fixed-focus lens were pretty grainy, but the camera proved to be quite capable of taking a beating without falling apart.

You download images and video from the camera using a mini USB 1.1 port, which draws power from the host PC while it’s connected—a convenient battery-saving feature, since the camera doesn’t come with a separate power supply.

OK, so the ATC-1000 doesn’t have nearly as many features as the Samsung, and its image quality leaves much to be desired. But with a $120 price tag, it’s so cheap that you probably won’t mind if it’s damaged while capturing a gnarly misadventure on your snowboard or dirt bike; that is, if you and the camera’s memory survive the escapade sufficiently intact to watch it later.

Month Reviewed: April 2006

Verdict: 7

URL: www.oregonscientific.com