[rhubarbe]

I know that HV10 is old hat and that it'll have been discussed many times over the nine months or so since it was released, but from recent posts people are now considering it as a budget HD camcorder, so I thought that this might be a good place for me to give my impressions.

Nice, solid construction, doesn't feel plasticky. Just a tad bigger than I had thought/hoped it might be. I had a Pana SDR-S150 last year and it is certainly bigger and heavier than that.

LCD nice and bright and very detailed, but I bought it principally because it has a viewfinder, which means I can walk about without my reading glasses on and still be able to take video. You may think that this is pish, but until your eyes start not to focus on near objects, particularly when you had previously enjoyed very good sight, I cannot begin to explain to you how utterly frustrating it is. Anyway, I can use the little viewfinder with its friendly diopter.

Motor noise is a tad louder than I had hoped for, but since the mic is at the top of the lens barrel this isn't too irritating, yet, 'cept it tends to pick up my heavy breathing.

Sound quality from the built in mic is fine for my purpose, and the video quality is up there with the heroes. Realistic colours and not oversaturated at all.

I'm currently working with Sony Premium DV tapes, the ones that sell on Amazon for £10.99 for ten (buy 20 get free postage), and have no problems to report using those tapes.

WIN XP recognised the cam no problem and I captured using Adobe premiere Elements 3.0, exporting to mpeg (m2t) was about 20% faster than real time and files play fine in my E6600 C2D PC with 2GB RAM.

If I decide to keep it I may build a dedicated Quad core rig just to output m2t. OTOH, I may decide that the wife needs a new bathroom.

I like the OIS.

I don't find the way you have to grip the cam in any way unintuitive or uncomfortable.

Nice. I quite like it.

[senu]

Originally Posted by rhubarbe

Motor noise is a tad louder than I had hoped for, but since the mic is at the top of the lens barrel this isn't too irritating, yet, 'cept it tends to pick up my heavy breathing.

No....do you hold your breath sometimes then?

Nice. I quite like it.

Yeah it is great kit.. enjoy

[rhubarbe]

Image is superb. I can't help being a grunter.