Summary: BUY IT

Comment: I bought got the HV30 on Amazon about a week ago and the camera was exactly what I hoped for. When I first shot in HD I never thought it would turn out the way it did. Its INCREDIBLE. I play xbox regulary in HD and have a lot of knowledge when it comes to picture quality and all I have to say is holy $#it. Amazing. Its easy to use and sexy looking, small sleek. The led light is cool too, nice and bright!. You dont need HD miniDV for high def, normal ones work. Be sure you have a firewire cable and a firewire port on your computer for the DV and HDV. Keep in mind there are certain programs that dont let you edit HD video, but the ones I am sure of are Sony Vegas and Pinnacle Studio. Be sure to check the system specification if you want to edit HD footage, you are gonna need a fairly buff computer.

The only downside if any, and im really prying here, would be that, unlike sony, there is no nightshot, nightvison that i could find. however, it does shoot awesome inn low light and have the 24p and 30p which are stunning. so i say BUY IT

Summary: BEWARE: Long term investment in learning this camera

Comment: I have been taking family/travel DV for the last 5 years on a Canon ZR50MC, processing it on a PC and burning it to DVDs. I had this work flow down to a fine art. I replaced that (now worn out) camera with the HV30 about 5 months ago. It has been a 5 month learning experience (with a pretty steep curve).

The HV30 is deceptively powerful and complex camera. It has the potential in the right hands to film jaw droppingly good footage. Canon have included some pretty advanced features in the camera, but have omitted to explain the pros and cons of some of these features in the manual. This can lead to a lot of hair pulling and anger management classes, and frustratingly sub par footage. This is NOT a standard issue DV camcorder like the ZR50. It is waaaay more powerful, and can get you into trouble much more easily. You will need this website: hv20.com.

In full auto mode this camera shoots fantastic "local-news" style super sharp HD video - and if that's all you want then you will be one happy camper!!! My camera is also close to silent compared to the old ZR50MC - a big improvement.

However, if you want (like me) to dig into the progressive film modes (24p and 30p) things can get pretty weird, pretty quick. This film-ish HDV is somewhat prone to frame jitter / judder / shudder, MUCH more so than SDV. This is not a fault with the camera, but you could say it was unexpected and unwanted baggage. Jitter is when the edges of frame jump irregularly and potentially make the viewer feel somewhat seasick (not good). It becomes difficult to focus on elements in the picture. This is generally caused by pans and movement with an uneven or variable rate. Pans and movement must be very smooth, much more so than SDV. Smooth/even rate of change is more important than slow - for example filming through a speeding car windscreen is low jitter.
You might find yourself reading up on how frame rates and shutter speeds work to solve common judder and jitter problems with the HV30. The manual does not mention these very common problems. I can say you almost always need a tripod or a steadicam to get good low jitter footage, with the optical image stabiliser (OIS) turned OFF. However, the OIS is quite good when you are actually filming a static thing, but do not happen have a tripod in your pocket at that moment. Image stabiliser + any movement = Jittery Footage (bad). Hand held in general is really not a good idea. The manual does not address any of these subtle (but vital to success) points.

This brings us to pulldown removal and interlacing. This can get seriously weird. Again, it is not a fault with the camera - but it is yet ANOTHER issue to learn all about. The manual does not mention it. I can say that I now avoid 24p due to this problem - even on some TVs (which are meant to deal with this automatically) I can see interlace artifacts. After 5 months I am thinking that life is too short for amateurs to deal with this. Plus it gives me a headache.

Another important point is that you cannot faithfully assess this HDV footage on a PC. I have a dual core E6600 and a P4 - they both can add an additional layer of judder to the footage, since they cannot play it smooth enough. I use sensible settings in Vegas Pro for preview. To properly assess the footage you must use a TV. That was unexpected! Also there are major performance differences for mp4 video playback between the current media players. Something that plays/looks great in Quicktime will suck in VLC - yet more detailed trivia to be figured out.

All in all - this is great camera, but if you want to use it to its full potential, then you will be paying your dues for the next 6 months. It comes with A LOT of hidden baggage. If somebody could do a 1 hour training video, or an idiots guide on how to use it, I think it would be a much more appealing product (with hindsight). I will not be selling my HV30 due to the time invested; but I will never ever be upgrading a camera again.

Summary: wonderful

Comment: My husband LOVES this camera. Not only do the videos come out amazing, but even the still pictures are great! Highly recommend this video camera!

Summary: Excellent Looking Footage, could be wider lens.

Comment: I question the value of most reviewers who write something after a short experience with a product. I fall into that category myself but here goes. I've "played" with this camcorder for a month and did one serious shoot - a talking head interview miked with a lavalier mike. I used professional studio tungsten lighting. It looked very, very good for a camcorder at this price. Sounded great which had more to do with an external mike than the camcorder. The sound may suck with the camera's mike but I don't intend to use it much. I am thinking I will have to do some rube goldberg adjustments to get what I want from this camcorder but so be it. I shot the interview at 30p and cinema mode(vivid) which seemed to work nice. The image under my lighting looked washed out so I over rode the auto lighting minus two. Worked fine in this instance.
I was attracted to this camera because most reviews suggested the video quality was very good. I concur. Also like the 30p & 24p and cinema mode and ability to use external microphone. With good technique I think I can produce videos that rival the models that cost 3-4K, particularly when you convert to quicktime or flash for the web.
I use a new MAC and Final Cut Express to edit my stuff. The HD footage from this camera takes some horsepower to edit i.e. hard drives, processor, video card, etc. If all I wanted was some family stuff to play back on my TV through the camera I wouldn't go with this camera -- probably would get one of the camcorders with a card and avchd format.
I'm a professional still photographer. This camera is meant to be an extension of some of the work I do in that capacity. So far I'm happy with it. It's a consumer camcorder with enough bells and whistles to make decent video if used carefully. The price is outrageous (in a good way). Am anxious to do more with it.
The only negative I might bring up is that the zoom is only around 48mm (35mm camera equivalent) at the wide end which makes basically a normal field of view. Lots of telephoto reach but I would prefer it the other way around. I notice that the Canon wide angle converter lens is .7x which would be around 34mm when attached. Still not extremely wide but so it goes.

Summary: Excellent Camera

Comment: It's my first HD camera and I couldn't be more pleased with it. The HD quality is fantastic. Plus the 24p and 30p modes are nice.