HELP! Canon HV20 vs Panasonic NV GS320?

I've been looking at both of these camcorders and I am uncertain as which is a better buy. I know that the Canon has additional features including CMOS as apposed to 3ccd in the Panasonic. The Panasonic shot still pics at 3.1 while the Canon shoots at 2.96. Also, the Canon is High Def while the Panasonic is not. One of the concerns I have with the Canon is the comment someone made at CNET was "About 20 minutes of my raw HD footage was 17.13 GB. Yes, you read that right, GIGABYTES. I've compressed most of my footage to distribute to family, but intend on saving the tapes since the file sizes are so big. So here I am...not sure which is a better buy....the Canon at around 800 or 450 for the Panasonic. HELP!

the HV20 is no doubt the better choice!
the HV20 can record SD and thus be as space consious as the Pana
the HV20 is the best HD quality you can get below 2000 USD
the HV20 has the same quality photos as with an EOS 350. YES i compared...
the HV20 footage imported in iMovie takes the same amount diskspace as pana; why? Imovie converts everything to Apple Intermediate Coded... You will loose the top HD quality; but you will have the tape if you plan to use better software/hardware in the future
more reasons?

Similar Messages

PE7 unable to recognize Canon HV20 as High Definition

Hello Everyone:
Unfortunately like some of you that probably want to try your hand at high definition editing, I just bought PE7 a couple of days before the announcement for PE8. For some reason I find that PE7 (and my previous PE3) cannot recognize my Canon HV20 as the high definition camera that it is.
I can easily import regular dv-avi from this Canon but when trying to import the files as HDV, it does not recognize the camera.
The camera is connected via firewire and is recognized as 'DV' Camcorder but not as an 'HDV' camcorder. The footage has been recorded in High defintion 1080.
I hope that one of you with this type of camera can help.
On another note, is it possible to record into PE7 with HDMI?
Thanks,
Lucio
email: [email protected]
my computer: HP m9077c, Intel core 2 Quad core Q6600, 32 bit, 3G Ram, service pack 1 with all the current microsoft updates, 400G internal HD and 1T external HD

Lucio,
Perhaps a different capture card is needed or Vista Ultimate (instead of the Home Premium that I have).
A FireWire connection should be all that you will need. No "capture card" would be involved.
There don't seem to be many setting available for transferring beside an 'AV-DV' on-off (which I keep on).
Because my Canon is an SD-only unit, I can't really check its manual to help you. This line puzzles me a bit. What happens if you set this to OFF? Considering the number of menu options and switches that I have on my SD camera, I'd have expected your HD/SD unit to have more possible settings, but maybe I'm wrong and Canon has simplified things a lot.
Good luck,
Hunt

What are the settings for capturing video from Canon HV20

Hi All,
I want to capture video from Canon HV20 with Premiere Elements 11. What kind of settings should I use to capture the video with full information?
Here is what I did:
1) According the manual, I went to Capture settings panel (Edit > Project Settings > Capture) and selected HDV as capture format, because my video is at high definition.
2) In addition, I checked "Capture to Timeline" and "Split Scenes by cotent".
Are these settings enough?
Thanks.

HV20user
Sounds reasonable, using Add Media/HDV Camcorder, but....
Have you reviewed the Adobe write up on Premiere Elements 11 DV and HDV capture firewire into it.
http://help.adobe.com/fr_FR/premiereelements/using/WS5CDA0F91-60F1-4b79-ABF6-E9E75F498DB2. html#WS2AF26FB5-4C63-4c46-9DB3-7249558F6528
The mention of Get Media instead of Add Media makes me wonder if the video's instructor was demo'ing from Premiere Elements 10, but...
Major factors have always included having Premiere Elements project preset set correctly to correspond to your camera settings...For HDV data capture firewire...
NTSC HDV HDV 1080p30 or PAL HDV HDV 1080p25 depending on if you are targeting a NTSC or PAL area where frame rates are typically a consideration.
I had not done any DV or HDV data capture firewire into Premiere Elements. But, Premiere Elements 11's take over of the project preset setting would encourage me to encourage you to verify your project settings before the capture.
There are probably many more, but the following is online discussion of one Canon HV20 issue
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/316970-video-capture-problems-HV20-camcorder-is-control led-but-no-video-capture
If you experience difficulty with the HDV capture fireware into Premiere Elements 11, you might consider what some others have done in this regard, that is, use HDVSplit for the capture firewire and then import the split (.m2t) clips "Add Media" into Premiere Elements 11 with the appropriate HDV HDV 1080p (1440 x 1080 HD anamorphic 16:9) project preset.
Please update us on your progress when you get a chance.
Thanks.
ATR

Video out to Canon HV20

I am using an Imac 20" Intel with 2G Ram, a 500 GB Lacie External drive for my media and a Canon HV20 Camcorder for material.
I was able to capture my HD footage with no problem to FCE 4.0, edited my footage and created a DVD with IDVD with no problem. Want to delete the media and start a new project. However, I read somewhere that it is a good idea to save your completed sequence back to MiniDV to keep a backup of the highest quality video for use to create HD DVDs in the future.
This is where my problems start. As I said, I have no problem capturing but for whatever reason it will not record back to my camcorder (which based on the info in my Canon manual and a check with Cannon support) I am doing everything right on the camcorder end. Camera gives error when I start the recording process of "Check the HDV/DV input" and I don't see the footage on my camcorder.
I have tried Print to Video and recording via the timeline and neither will work. Spent 2 hours on phone with Technical support yesterday and then even went to the Apple store with some footage, my camera and my firewire cable only to be told that they could only help if I brought that and my computer and my external hard drive (and then they would only try to figure something out for 20 minutes)
I am sure there is some setting that is frustrating the camera but can't figure it out....any help would be appreciated.

Hi,
I had similar trouble and came accross your post. I have since got mine to work (see below).
What is the format of the sequence you are trying to export? Is it 1080i, 720p, or something else?
My workflow involved importing clips from the Canon HV20 using iMovie at the 540p import setting (960 x 540 pixels). I would then edit in FCE 4, and my sequence settings would adjust automatically to my clips, i.e. 540p. When I tried to "print to tape" FCE would begin to export and I would hit OK on the computer screen, but the camera would not start recording.
I did some troubleshooting. What I had to do was create a new sequence 1080i and then copy/paste my edits from the 540p sequence into the 1080i sequence (and correct some incorrect motion on still images, because the resolution of the sequences were different). Now, when I "print to tape" the 1080i sequence, FCE actually does a HDV transcoding step (which takes a while on my iMac) and then the Canon HV20 records the sequence no problem. Of course, when viewed on the Canon HV20 miniDV tape to my HDTV the quality is a bit less than the original because of the down sampling to 540p. But anyway, I have an archived copy of my work. I have also had successfull "print to tape", with the HDV transcoding, using a 720p sequence.
The Lesson Learned: Import at full 1080i, or 720p, and make sure sequences match your import settings. Otherwise, you will end up mucking around with a bunch of conversion issues.
If there is another way to get non-1080i material to print to the HV20?? I'd love to hear about it since I have a couple of other very complicated sequences in 540p. I will be buying a bigger external hard disk to go 100% 1080i in the future. Live and learn.
Hope this helped,
Mace

Which firewire cable for new MacBook Pro and Canon HV20?

I just bought a new MacBook Pro and want to transfer video from my Canon HV20 camcorder (using FinalCut Express). The Canon instructions say to use a "DV cable" and I've learned that the MacBook Pro only has an "800 fire wire" port. Can someone give me the exact type of cable that I should get (even my local Apple Store couldn't help me).
Thanks!

I'm surprised that the folks at the Apple Store couldn't guide you. You just need a firewire cable with the proper fw400 connector on one end and a fw800 connector on the other. Here's one source for both cables and adapters:
http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?id=ID7468267&rsite=google.comsearc&r code=&action=Cat&search=FIREWIRE

FME freezes when connecting Canon HV20 via firewire

Hoping someone can help me out. I'm using a Canon HV20 camera
as a live video stream via FME and every time I try FME will freeze
and my laptop will freeze and I have to restart. My camera settings
are DV standard and it should work.
The necessary drivers for the Canon HV20 are installed and
I'm using a firewire card in my PC laptop that to connect the
camera feed. Restarting several times still results in the same
problems.
Is there something I should modify/check on my system to
ensure it's working correctly?

Some more troubleshooting tips.
Cheers
Eddie
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Panasonic PV-GS320

Hello all. After a few setbacks, I'm ready to buy a new video camera. I'm being extra-cautious and doing a lot of research before I do so though, because just a few days ago I bought a Sony HDD camera only to come and realize (after being informed) that HDD is absolute crap for video editing. I was lucky enough to get every penny back from Best Buy.
Now, I have been told I need to get MiniDV with firewire, and that's what I'm looking for now. I think I might have found a good one, but wanted to get opinions before I went out and blindly bought a camera (again...). I am looking to buy the Panasonic PV-GS320 ( http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelDetail?surfModel=PV-GS 320&catalogId=13401&cachePartner=7000000000000005702&modelNo=PV-GS320&itemId=105 042&catGroupId=25002&surfCategory=Digital+Camcorders&cacheProgram=11002&storeId= 15001&displayTab=S ) and was wondering if this was a good investment.
Answers to any of these questions would be greatly appreiciated:
Do you think it's a good beginner's camera that will still be good once I get better at filming?
Can miniDV tapes be used over and over again?
How hard is it to transfer video from the camera to the computer?
Do miniDV tapes suffer from those horizontal lines when there's sudden movement? (this was the huge problem for me with the Sony HDD, and the de-interlace feature in FCP didn't help much)
I appreciate ANY and ALL feedback!
(Don't know if this will help at all, but here is the MacWorld review as well: http://www.macworld.com/2007/05/reviews/pvgs320/index.php , I tend to not go by soley on what a review says, which is why I'm asking you!)
ALSO feel free to recommend any other cameras that you think might be better. I'm willing to go into the $700 range.

Do you think it's a good beginner's camera that will still be good once I get better at filming?
I have acouple of Panas and they work fine with FCE. Your model should allow you to grow a bit. Things I noticed in the specs that you may want to consider:
No firewire INPUT (out only), if you wish to record to tape from your Mac then your're stuck.
No headphone or external mic inputs, these features are vital for recording consistant quality audio. These features may not be a concern to you at this time. Features are dropped to keep the price looking good.
Can miniDV tapes be used over and over again?
Yes, but each re-record cyle degrades the tape. At the price of them these days new ones each session is the way to go. If you have to re-use I'd say no more than 3/4 times but that's my subjective view.
How hard is it to transfer video from the camera to the computer?
Easy with the right camera and cable. Get yourself a 4 to 6 pin firewire cable. These cables are also known as IEEE1394 or iLink. You may wish to get yourself an additional hard drive for storing footage, it adds up quickly.
ALSO feel free to recommend any other cameras that you think might be better. I'm willing to go into the $700 range.
There's always a price/features trade off with cameras. Your call at the end of the day. See if you can borrow one from someone that knows a bit and use it for a day, write down what you liked and didn't like, make sure your newie matches the list. At the very least test drive a few at the local store. Handling and the way menus work can mean a lot as does the features you actually will use.
Al

How to import to iMovie '08 from Canon HV20 HD Video Camcorder

Pretty simple problem statement: I've got a Canon HV20, a USB cable, and a new iMac with Leopard and iMovie '08. I plug in the camera, and iMovie does not seem to recognize it -- the only camera it wants to import from is the built-in iSight.
Help? And thanks a bunch.

You need a Firewire cable for video. The USB is only good for the still camera mode; to transfer still images from a card, if you have one.
Rick

Premiere Pro 1.5.1 HDV VIDEO CAPTURE - Canon HV20

Hi,
For the life of me I cannot get my camera to capture in HDV. I can switch over to DV and it will capture everything just fine. The settings I recorded in are HDV standard, Widescreen 29fps. Not the 24. But it just tells me the device is ofline no matter what I try. I grabbed a stand alone CineForm HDLink and that doesn't detect it either. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The Client wants HD, not DV.
Premiere Pro 1.5.1 HDV VIDEO CAPTURE - Canon HV20 firewire
Thanks in advance!

Ok, I spoke to soon. I kept searching and searching. Finally found this..
http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=12131
My camera was locked in DV mode. So I had to switch it to HDV/DV
"b) As many have said you need to be sure that the camera is set ot output in HDV, and not DV locked. Because I am a bit of a dunce I found it difficult to locate that, even with the manual so here are some foolproof instructions on how to get there:
in "Play" Mode > FUNC > MENU > PLAY/OUT SETUP2 > DV OUTPUT [set this to HDV/DV]"
That did it.

Removing Pulldown from Canon HV20 shot at 24P

Hello,
I have been trying to understand this whole situation particularly with the Canon HV20 and the 1080p24 mode that the camera offers. It is my understanding that when this video is stored to HDV it is shot onto a 1080i60 timeline, thus when capturing the video capture the video at 1080i60.
Okay, that I can do without a problem. However now I want to remove the pulldown using Cinema Tools to get the video into the proper 1080p24 mode so that it can be edited on a 1080p24 timeline.
I have read two main posts regarding this:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4287943&#4287943
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=89642&highlight=fcp
The user was kind enough to provide the following information:
p-p-i-i-p - aa
p-i-i-p-p - bb
i-p-p-p-i - bc
p-p-p-i-i - cd
However, I understand that this implies the sequencing of the Interlaced and Progressive frames.
With that said, I have no clue how this applies to the options available in Cinema tools. I have zero experience with Cinema Tools other than, "Hey, that looks interesting." just to fiddle around with it for a minute get bored and move on.
Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated and I am sure that there will be other HV20 owners soon popping up with the same question....
PowerMac G5 Quad / MacBook Pro 2.0GHz / PowerMac G4 Cube 1.8GHz Mac OS X (10.4.9) Final Cut Studio - Shake 4.1 - Adobe CS2

If someone can explain how this works or point to
someplace I can learn some more I would appreciate
it.
My apologies in advance for the long winded post.
I’ve seen this question several times but I haven’t yet seen a good answer for this. So I did a little digging and here’s what I can tell you. Any of you experts out there can correct me if need be.
First off, let’s look at how the HV20 actually stores the 24p frames in a 60i format. And let’s ignore the 23.98/29.97fps thing for a while. Remember that for 60i there are 60 interlaced fields every second, each containing half the video lines necessary to make up a complete frame of data. So in order to get a complete frame, it requires 2 fields. This means that 60i really only has 30 frames worth of video every second. Fairly basic stuff… I hope nothing new.
Now let’s break this down a little further, the most basic repeating pattern for this format is 4 progressive frames being fit into 10 interlaced fields (divide both 24 and 60 by 6, don’t ask me why, it’s just the way they did it because it fits.). These 4 progressive frames are referred to as A – B – C – D. What the HV20 (and other cameras) do is convert this to interlaced fields so that it fits inside the 60i data fields. This gives us something like Au – Al – Bu – Bl – Cu – Cl – Du – Dl. Where the “u” and “l” refer to the upper or lower field of video. To make a complete frame you have to reassemble an upper field with a lower field. Now it you’re keeping track, you’ll notice that this only adds up to 8 fields and 10 would be what is needed. So they duplicate 2 fields to get 10 in this fashion: Au – Al – Bu – Bl – Bl – Cu – Cl – Du - Du – Dl. Since it takes 2 sequential fields to make a frame, this sequence normally gets referred to as AA – BB – BC – CD – DD. It shouldn’t be that big of a leap now to see that this can also be referred to as p-p-i-i-p when looked at from a frame (two consecutive fields) perspective, ie: AA is considered progressive, BB is considered progressive, BC is considered interleaved, etc.
FCP uses the AA – BB – BC – CD – DD nomenclature to designate how the cadence of a clip starts.
p-p-i-i-p -> AA – BB – BC – CD – DD -> referred to as AA
p-i-i-p-p -> BB – BC – CD – DD – AA -> referred to as BB
i-i-p-p-p -> BC – CD – DD - AA – BB -> referred to as BC
i-p-p-p-i -> CD – DD - AA – BB – BC -> referred to as CD
p-p-p-i-i -> DD - AA – BB – BC – CD -> referred to as DD
As mentioned before, the easiest way to do this in Cinema Tools is to place the first of 3 p frames in the viewer and the set the cadence to DD.
Hope this helps.
Mark

IMovie: I uploaded HDV video from a Canon HV20 and then to YouTube. The video and the audio are out of sync. The audio seems to precede the video by a tiny bit which is disconcerting. Any recommendations about how to correct this? Thank you.

I downloaded video via iMovie from my Canon HV20. The video was in HDV. I then published it to YouTube and Vimeo and in both cases, the audio is out of sync: the video precedes the audio by a fraction of a second. The original is fine as viewed in the camera.
Any suggestions as to why and how to correct it?
Thank you,
David

Anything here help?
iMovie: Improving audio and video synchronization
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25603?viewlocale=en_US

Will canon hv20 work with imovie4?

I am considering buying the canon hv20 but want to know if it will work with imovie 4. can any one please help. if it wont, does anyone have any suggestions for a video camera in the same price range that will?
many thanks

carlov wrote:
I am considering buying the canon hv20 but want to know if it will work with imovie 4. ...
yes and no
iM vers4 does NOT support HiDef quality as the hv20 delivers...
allthough, afaik, the Canon is able to output HD (HiDef) in SD (standard) ... that should work with iM..
check your set-up with the specs of iLife8 http://www.apple.com/ilife/systemrequirements.html ..
invest 80$, and you get iM08 AND iMHD6 (HD stands for HiDef)
or eBay for a iMHD5 version of iMovie ...

Import HD video with my Canon HV20

Hi, I have a Canon HV20 which is a High Def camera. I bought a firecable at the Apple Store, but now I'm trying to import it into Final Cut. I used the Log and Capture, then went and imported it as HV NTSC 48 Khz. When I burn it with DVD Studio Pro it doesn't look like it is HD. So what is a correct preset that Final Cut will recognize it because when I select like one of the DVDPRO options he won't recognize it. Thank you and much obliged for any help.

Thanks for your reply. I still can't find it in the list, attached is a screen shot. Thank you for your help!
Message was edited by: EBechStein

Dropped frames importing HDV from Canon HV20

Hi all,
I have a strange problem. When I capture a HDV tape with my Canon HV20 camera it runs ok for some time but starts dropping frames after a random time. It shows a yellow triangle in the capture screen. Sometimes it stops the capture half way by it self before the end of the tape is reached.
I can see that the memory is then full and the swap is +-1.2 Gig.
I disconnected all other firewire / USB stuff from the mac.
320G of free Disks pace.
Capture in FCE works ok but when importing it in to imovie the timestamp is not there.
Any idea's?
Cheers,
Jeroen

I tried reinstalling Quicktime, trashing my preferences, and repairing permissions, but the problem still persists. I think this problem may be different in nature from the communications problems that article is designed to address. When I try to import HD video it fails, but I can capture standard definition video recorded on the same tape without even having to disconnect my camera. I just close the capture window, find a section of tape with standard def video on it, and it captures without a hitch. I may be completely wrong about this, but it seems like Final Cut is just not able to recognize the HD video that has been captured on the tape. If anyone has experienced a similar problem or knows of a solution, help would be greatly appreciated.

Canon HV20 and HDV footage

Hello All,
I recently purchased a Canon HV20, but have only recorded and edited in SD DV.
Today I was reading a clip on the internet that gave me a bit of a surprised. Here is a part of the clip,
[This article was first published in the Sept/Oct, 2007, issue of
Larry's Final Cut Pro Newsletter.]
First, Allan Tépper writes:
I am writing to offer help for Justin Ascott's 24p workflow with the Canon HV20. The 24p recording of the Canon HV20 has much in common with the 24p recording of the Sony HVR-V1.
To answer Justin Ascott specifically: The FCP Easy Setup called HDV-1080/24p will not work with 24p footage from the HV20 or the Sony V1. "
Has anyone here had any experience with FCE and capturing HDV footage from a Canon HV20? Is the statement above true?
Thanks for your help.
Mike

I wonder why my PAL one doesn't do 24p?
Normal HDV will work perfectly with FCE except it will have to be converted into the Apple Intermediate Codec.
The Easy Setup is "HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60".
I don't think shooting in HDV and then converting to SD DV will look any better than normal SD but you will have the HDV master tape which can be used to produce Blu-ray DVDs at a later date when they become cheaper and more popular.
An hour of AIC will take around 40 GB of HD space.
As with everything it is worth doing quick tests involving something unimportant to determine which workflow suits you. Use DVD-RWs when testing to avoid waste.
Remember that you can export your HDV edited project back to tape in your camera and connect it to an HD TV for high definition playback.
I am not too keen on this because of the extra wear it puts on the camera and tape.
Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

HELP! Canon HV20 vs Panasonic NV GS320?

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