Name: Canon VIXIA HG20 High Definition 60GB Hard Drive Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom, 200x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Screen
Brand: Canon
SKU: CAHG20
Price: 649.95 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 3.8 (21 reviews)

Canon VIXIA HG20 High Definition 60GB Hard Drive Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom, 200x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Screen

Canon VIXIA HG20 High Definition 60GB Hard Driv...

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Buy: Canon VIXIA HG20 High Definition 60GB Hard Drive Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom, 200x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Screen Color: Black, Configuration: Camcorder Only, Ergonomics: Palmheld, Features: Built-In Microphone

I love this camcorder. I am not a Computer person that can give you all the fancy lingo, but I will tell you that if you buy this camcorder - YOU WILL LOVE IT!

I highly suggest buying the larger battery - the battery that comes with it should only be used as a backup or for a short video session. It lasts about an hour, but I would fairly say 45 minutes with it going on & off stand-by.

My only other gripe was also the software - NOT user friendly. Very confusing....HOWEVER.....I copied all my hard drive onto my computer, used Nero Smart Start & made my own movies that way. Easy fix as far as I'm concerned.

I love that it has the 60GB hard drive. No messing with tapes, or rewinding to get back to a good recording spot. If you don't like what you recorded - just delete it! So easy & I let my 6 year old run it. That is how easy it is!

I read everyone else's reviews before buying this camcorder & let me tell you, even the software gripers wasn't enough to persuade me OUT of buying it!
It is lightweight, EXCELLENT COLOR, QUALITY, SOUND....You name it! I truly Love this camcorder & I will NEVER buy any other brand.

I own nothing BUT Canon (2 digital Rebel EOS Cameras) a Speedlite 580EX Flash, The Vixia HG20 Camcorder.....It is a wonderful line & Canon rates far above the competition in my book!
Thank you for making excellent products!

Excellent Choice for a Camcorder!

Light weight, easy to use. Menus are very intuitive and simple. Reports of file type issues and transfer issues seem to be more of a PC issue than a camera issue and not an issue with the camera. Absolutely no issues on Non-PC hardware using both bundled and professional software (and no, I'm not referring to Linux). Video file format shouldn't be an issue either since there are many conversion utilities available, many of which are free-ware. Lack of direct AVI / WMV support is not an issue and shouldn't be a consideration when considering this camera. The only issue I have encountered in more than one year of use is that if an accessory lens (wide-angle or telephoto) is attached, then flash photography should be avoided as the lens will cast a shadow due to the lens partially blocking the flash. Simple solution, don't use the accessory lens for flash photography. Microphone (DM100) is very sensitive and is able to pick up Elk mewing at more than 100 yards. Low light performance is good (video has a deep depth of field = high fStop equivalent so exposure time per frame is limited by the frame rate so nobody should have high expectations for low light performance anyway). Great camera!

Great camera

None of the Pro?s are of any value if you?re unable to make a home-movie in a timely manner to enjoy with friends and family! Truly disappointed with the video software included with the camera and have not been able to find aftermarket products that support the HD video editing. This has been a big waste of money!

Not for Home Movies!

This is a great high definition camcorder. Easy to operate, very adequate battery life, and a choice of two recording mediums. I read the review about needing to know file types and having video editing skills if you plan to compose video productions for DVD, but that would be true for any camcorder. There's nothing about this camcorder's output that would be any more difficult than another manufacturer. That having been said, it is very easy to burn DVDs if you just want straight video from the camera. And transfer to computer is a snap with the enclosed software. Finally, I found the output files to be easily compatible with both Pinnacle and Vegas Movie Studio - neither of which required me to be aware of file types. I would highly recommend this camcorder.

Fantastic camcorder for the price

hi quality, looks cool, light.
cons:super flimsy, horrible camera quality uneasy to use

horrible!!!

I am about to send the camera back for the second time in the first year. First it would not charge the batteries. Canon fixed it with no problems. Now after using it only twice since the repair it doesn't even turn on now. Canon takes care of you, but it would be nice to have a reliable camera at any and all times.

Don't plan on using all year

Camera has excellent video quality, with superb performance. Performs quite well in every setting I have used it in, comfortable to hold and has an easy setup. That is where the pros stop.

As long as you do not mess up a scene or a line, you could hook-up the camcorder to just about any television (preferably HD and play back recordings quite easily. However, if you intend to extract the video file from the camcorder onto your computer and put it onto disk you better be educated in file types, files conversion utilities & additional video editing software. The software included is really watered down; the video file type is not easily converted into .mpg or .avi, which eventually turned into a great big headache. Currently, i am in the process of testing out several (7 to be exact) unfamiliar video editing applications inorder to achieve what i need to do. If you purchase this camcorder you?ll need to be confident in your video editing software (latest versions too) & you will also need to know your file types. Therefore, buyers beware!!!

Video Editors Beware

The camera was great out of the box. After reading the instructions I noticed some big problems. 1) you can't use this product abouve 9,200 feet. I live in Colorado and some of the best pictures are above 10,000. 2) You can't convert any video to .avi or wmv. it be nice to put some video up on youtube. Finally after 30 days the camera stopped working. Period.

Nice...but beware

Can't seem to be able to save my video to my computer or DVD. I guess I can only use the camera until the hard drive is full. This completely takes away from any enjoyment I have had using the camera. Doesn't seem to be much help available to assist me. Must be something better out there.

Not Easy to Use

Every time I want to download to my PC, it does not
work,I follow all the instuctions. the ImageMixer3 ver.3
can't import the video into my computer. My PC has 8Gb
of RAM ,had never any problems with video, till now.

Problem with downloding

Bought the Vixia HG20 2 weeks ago and used it for the first time at a family reunion. Canon makes it easy for anyone to use there products. The hard part is when you want to convert them to DVD. Use Canons Image Mixer 3 , select create disk, and then select DVD. USE ONLY DVD - R Disks and not DVD + R . This is if your not using blueray yet and just want it to a standard DVD. Windows Movie maker will work also so you can edit your movies. Import the files from the designated location. I Highly recommend that you either buy the Canons DW-100 to copy direct to DVD without a computer, OR have a computer with at least DUAL CORE TECHNOLOGY and 3 gigs or ram. It still took me 2 plus hours to make a dvd from my NEW computer. Besides this little hang up the Camcorder is amazing and not bulky at all even though it has a 60 gig hard-drive. If you want to record in the highest quality you need to change that in the menu. It is defaulted to a lower recording quality when you first get it. One other thing I wish was better is the image stabilization. Its not as good as I thought.

Overall great camera.

This camera takes amazing pics and videos but trying to download them is a nightmare. I've currently spent the last hour and a half just trying to get my videos off the stupid camera! VERY dissatisfied with that.

Great Camera/Horrible to download pic/videos

I'm extremely satisfied with this product - my very first Canon! I had been looking for a camcorder with which to create and save memorable family moments and I believe I have found just what I was looking for. I wish the battery pack would last longer and the still-picture quality could be higher.... Nevertheless, I am really pleased with my acquisition of this camcorder. Now, if I can only keep it safe from my small children!...

Great Buy for Non-Professionals

Awesome video with this camera. Love to connect to my 52" LCD and watch 1080i directly from the camera via HDMI cable. Takes awesome video outside in normal light. Inside video is not as great, but you can compensate usually by the auto white balance. Would be much better with built in light or low light setting or nightvision. Storage capability is awesome, can store up to 5 hours on highest quality. I've only had up to one hour at a time. The SD card slot is great because I can record to that and then play it directly off of my PS3. The quality on the card is also awesome. If I were to buy again I would purchase stricltly a Flash memory based camcorder. Just because of the worry of the hard drive failing. I've had NO problems so far though. There is plenty of memory built into the Flash Based camcorders, plus the cost of memory cards is affordable enough if you need more space. Also easier to transfer video to computer via SD Card than plugging in cables. Unless you have the latest computer with quad core or an i7 processor then you don't want to do any video in the highest quality for video editing. For every hour of video it takes approximately 4 hours to process it and burn to a dvd on the highest quality. I'm on a Core 2 Duo T7200 Processor with 4 gig of memory and windows vista. Overall very happy. Capturing moving video is choppy also, but still very good detail.

Great Video, Software Lacking

I love this thing. I was blow away when I hooked it up to my HDTV via HDMI cable. You can see every detail with this camcorder. I use this mainly to shoot me and my friends playing hockey. I did use it not to long ago on a snow trip and it was fantastic, you can see every detail in the snow. I use Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 to edit because the software included is really only good for importing video and pictures. The still pictures are alright with this camcorder and it is a nice feature to be able to snap a quick pic while recording.

Great Camera

My only complaint is the software package that is bundled with the camcorder is only good for importing still shots.

Other than that....fantastic!

Great Camcorder

So inexpensive for its features

I just got it 3 weeks ago but I captured many videos using it. Almost 20hrs (about 200GB)

Still images:
Great still images quality although Its maximum resolution is 3MP. A competitor camcorders has 10MP but costs $200 more and not as powerful in videos as Canon camcorders.

Computer Connectivity:
Operating Systems: Works fine with Linux and Mac
Note: It needs to connect the power adapter to access your videos (It is safer this way)

Battery life:
For a non touch screen lcd camcorder, it uses more power than it should.
Recommendation: buy the BP-827 battery and use it as a main battery. It gives you 2670mAh instead of 890mAh. 3x the original one. little bit big though.

It's good for my bucket
It's good for my wife thanks to the Great Easy mode and It's good for me thanks to the Manual Controls choices.
It's good for pros as a b-cam

Note: I wanted to get HG21 since has a viewfinder and better LCD screen in addition to 120GB hard drive but it costs a lot more.

Loves it.

you get more than what you pay for

I was clueless about video cameras when I went to the electronics retailer before Thanksgiving for a small DVD/CD purchase. The HG20 was on sale and I spent some time w/ the salesperson and loved the way it felt and liked the idea of a Hard Drive for storage instead of tape (been out of the video recording loop for more than a little while I've learned). I liked the idea of recording in Hi Def - Didn't know that was available to the financially common man either. I knew that it being a Canon though, that it was a quality product. The 'Flash' thing was still new to me and I figured it to be an added bonus for still photos. (Can anyone tell me that for sure it is true that you can record video to the flash chip on the HG20? I still don't know.) I went home and got on CNET and checked it along w/ other Canons and some Sonys and I went back to the store bought it. I knew I was getting quality and have since found out I dumbed into an extremely good deal. I just today got a chance to initialize the HD and Flash chip and will get to record my daughter's Christmas Chorus concert tomorrow and Sunday. I can not wait. Playing with it a little today confirmed my belief that this was a top-notch video camera. The operation was smooth and easy and I got a taste of the quality when moving through the screen menus. Real nice look and 'feel' to it. It reminded me of the feeling I got when I first got my iPod - Impressive and way above 'par'. I'm happy that I'm finally able to capture some of these important moments - in High Def even - of my kiddo's life and I'm absolutely thrilled to have just 'lucked-up' on this camera for the price I paid. I'm sure it's worth every penny I spent and then some.
I don't see how you can go wrong with this one. I know I'm going to definitely find out tomorrow that I couldn't have done any better and that I stumbled onto a major 'Hit' with my HG20.
:)

The Good Stuff

The Canon HG20 is the perfect camcorder in every way. The first thing I noticed is how great it feels in my hand. The size and weight are ideal for an on-the-go lifestyle, and the buttons are so easy to access without having to adjust my hand while recording. The hard drive is so convenient because there is no need for discs, tapes, or cards, but being a hybrid, you can record to a memory card as well for additional recording time. Just charge and record, its that simple.

The HG20 produces an unparalleled picture quality with a factor lens that is far better than any other brands. My favorite mode is the Cine Mode which actually give your recordings a cinematic look by slowing down the frame rate to 24 fps. I was looking at a comparable product from another brand which has the same size hard drive and the same optical zoom, and overall is a good camcorder, but was at least $200 more.

The Canon HG20 is perfect in every way! Its stylish. Its convenient. Its easy to use. Its worth the investment.

Perfect in every way

This camera is worth every penny. Image quality is excellent even in standard and HQ shooting modes (7 and 12 mbps) and it can shoot all the way up to 24 mbps. Especially good for us is the manual audio input and mic attenuator---you can input from professional auditorium mics directly for the best sound quality. The only gripe is the bundled software---ImageMixer3---? It doesn't work in Vista (at least on my duo core Intel notebook) but it works in XP. No problem---Roxio 09 works fine anyway, and you can burn HD Blu-ray discs on standard DVDs. Bravo Canon, you beat Sony on this one IMHO.

Fantastic camera

Out of the box it is ready to go. Easy mode will get you started, by the end of the day you will be flying through the menu. We also love the programs that come with it. It was a little more money than we planned on spending but well worth every penny.

Canon VIXIA HG20 High Definition 60GB Hard Drive Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom, 200x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Screen

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