Why I buy this one ?
- HDV camcorder with 1/2.7-inch CMOS image sensor; 24p Cinema Mode
- High-definition 10x optical zoom lens; super-range optical image stabilizer
- Advanced photo features: up to 3-megapixel stills, histogram display, built-in flash, and more
- 2.7-inch color widescreen LCD; color viewfinder
- HDMI terminal; advanced accessory shoe

softwareandelectronics from TX, United States offers this stuff for:

Price : $899.99 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Small Dog Electronics offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $999.99 Usually ships in 2-3 business days

Pavilion Electronics offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $1,249.99 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Wall Street Photo offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $1,284.89 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

What our customer's say!

"Fantastic Image Quality, But 24P Is Tough To Post-Process", I used to own a Canon GL2 (prosumer SD 3CCD camera with Canon L lens) but got tired of carrying it around to take travel video which I rarely ended up editing. So I sold it and purchased this, looking forward to HD quality and 24P framerates.

The HD quality does not disappoint in any way whatsoever. Hook this up to a 1080i/p HDTV via HDMI and the quality of the image will be indistinguishable from what you see on any of the HD channels. I was blown away.

Build quality wise, it seems a little cheap, the tape loading door on my has a little play in it. It's extremely light, which makes it hard to hold steady; however, the optical image stabilization is surprisingly good. Attempting to hold the camera steady at full zoom results in nearly shake free video.

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars (and it may not matter to you) is that recording in 24p mode, doesn't actually record 24 progressive frames per second. Instead it records 18 progressive frames and 12 interlaced ones in succession, inside of a 60i stream. There are also no markers embedded in the video to signal to applications e.g. Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas, etc. the correct way to process the stream. In order to get a real 24p video you need to perform a pulldown. There are various ways to do this, but none of them are trivial (search the Internet for "Canon HV20 24p Pulldown").

All in all, though, this is an amazing little device. The video I recently took of Upper Yosemite Falls looks better on my TV than I remember it. How often does that happen to you?!

"PAL or NTSC", Actually I'm looking for this Canon HV-20 Camcorder with PAL recording system. Please help.

"Superb camera at an unbeatable price", This is the best camera I have ever owned. The picture is flawless and my home videos taken in 24p truly look like they were made for television movies. I love it!

"My HV20 failed after 4 months", I bought this camcorder four months ago. I was really happy with the image quality of my recordings. However, last week I needed to use the camera (after not having used it for about three weeks) and tried to turn it on only to find out that it wouldn't. Thinking the battery had run out, I left it to charge overnight. The next day and for a couple of days afterwards I tried a combination of things to try and get the camera to power-up, but nothing worked. Finally, I gave up and called Canon tech support. Tech support told me that I had to send the camera in for repair. I sent the camera in for repair paying $42 out of my own pocket to do so. Hopefully, it will be repaired and come back soon. Another person wrote of a similar problem with this model and I'm beginning to wonder if this model might be prone to such problems.

"I'd Buy One", I've shot for a few hours with this camera and plan to buy one as a backup for documentary work. It's extremely easy to use and the single chip works much better in low light than my high end 3 chip HD camera. There are compression artifacts that show up where there's a lot of motion in the frame, but it's a great deal for the price and there's a lot to be said for traveling with a camera this small. The only problem I've seen with it has been some RF interference with a low-end radio mic.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Professional quality in a small package", I did a lot of research to find a great affordable HD video camera. The HV20 was the clear winner in almost every review I read. It didn't let me down in any way. The quality of the video and sounds is miles ahead of my old Canon Z60 cam. It also supports digital tape instead of a hard drive, so it allows me to still use my old tapes from my Z60. Although cams with hard drives appear to be the new thing, I still believe that digital tape is a much more secure option. Especially for archiving.

The HV20 camera is also very easy to use. I am no videofile, so I briefly read over the main features in the manual and became familiar with all the custom options within less than 1/2 an hour. I picked up this camera on my way to a Mexican vacation with the family, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I shot around 1.5 hours of video and hoped it would look good. When I got home I used Nero to capture the video. I noticed that you must keep the LCD door close on the camera or the HD video will not capture properly. Once I figured this out I worked like a charm. It took a while to finally get everything captured and to burn my DVD (3-4 hours total) but when I popped in the finished DVD I was amazed at how the video looked on my TV. It was like professional quality video. Fine details and the color were excellent. 1920 x 1080 certainly makes a world of difference.

Still photos are also very nice from this video camera. I didn't buy this for still shots, but loved the fact that I could leave my still cam in the hotel room and just use the one camera for both. You can insert a mini SD card into the camera to take very acceptable photos up to a resolution of 2048 x 1536. They will not compare to any reasonable good digital camera, but they are definately good enough for 8x10 prints of the family vacation etc. But I also like that this camera has 10x optical zoom it let's me zoom in much more than my old Canon G4 still cam.

Overall, this is a great camera. The size and clarity of the video is amazing for such an inexpensive camera.

"Great Camcorder", Great camera. Very easy to use and seems to fit your hand pretty well. Optical zoom is x10.... I wish it was more. I have a macintosh computer and had no problem installing the canon software. Uploading the video to the computer was easy with the fire wire. Overall, I think the camera was a great buy and am very satisfied.

"Many uses!!!!Great Camera", Other than the 24p which is a fantastic addition to a compact unit.The size of camera is perfect for more congested filming. I also own a Canon XH A1, this unit is perferred when shooting in large crowds,events with bleacher seating. I fully indorse the Canon HV20 !

"The top of the line for the price", Can't say enough about this camera.
If you use 'auto' settings you can't do a bad movie.
I love this, because it's a TAPE drive and I use my tapes as a BACKUP!
If you buy a HD machine you have to delete all of it and store it on your HD that eventually FAIL .... ALL HARD DRIVES WILL FAIL!
So, you will lose all your movies.
Get a tape drive camera as this one.

[...]

"Great Camcorder.... works with imovie 06 HD (ibook G4)", I have a ibook G4 1.33 Pwr PC with 1.5 GB ram. I bought this camera two days ago. The HV20 works flawlessly with my computer however when I import HD quality video to imovie 06 it lags a little bit. However will be able to burn on idvd 06 perfect.

The HV20 video quality is just what I am looking for, for my Disneywolrd vacation!!! The quality in a low light enviroment is decent. Zooming is great even though it is 10x. The sound is ok, you can hear the motor when it is VERY quiet but NOT a problem for me. The only problem with the camera is it doesn't come with a firewire cable but you can buy that seperately for 10-20 bucks.

So overall, i rate this camera five stars becuase it is great in video quality, compatible with Apple products and just right for a couple going on vacation or just having fun! I recommend this camcorder to anyone! I will write more when i go on my vacation and see if it is still a five star camcorder!!! Check in after May 2!!!! Thanks!