How much more useful is HV20 than...
 

...than the HV10?

Yes, I get it, it has better low-light performance. Which is important.

-What about overall image quality? What changes have been made between the two that affect the results in say, perfect conditions.

-Handling. HV10 is a strange looking camera. Seems to me like it would be hard to get stable hand-held shots, and difficult to use properly with a tripod.

-Accessories. How difficult is it to mount an external mike on the HV10. What else can be used on it?

I'd say the two were pretty close. Low light is MUCH improved with the HV20.

It's awkward, but smaller, so if that matters.

Since there's no mic input, that may be a moot point.

HV10 is downright amazing... I haven't had a chance to use an HV20 but I wouldn't doubt it's equal... just a few more options... and $300 more than you can buy it at some stores...

How is the HV20 better than the HV10 in low light conditions? Some say that the HV20 is actually a bit noisier than the HV10:http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=91951

I have been watching reports of low light performance closely these last months. HV20 has far better low-light performance...
...in 24p mode. At 60i, it is still not so great but subjectively slightly better than HV10.

Camcorderinfo puts it like this:
"There are differences in the HV10 and HV20’s 1080i image, though. We saw a bump in overall brightness in 1080i, most likely due to an increased gain. This had the effect of making the image noisy, seemingly noisier than the HV10, but overall preferable. We complained bitterly about the dim picture on the HV10. Sacrificing some noise for a brighter, sharper picture was the answer. The image was noisy in both images, but importantly, the look of the noise has changed. Whereas in the HV10, the noise was of a larger grain, with a lot of visible blue noise, the HV20 has a finer grain noise. We like the improvements this year."
(http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...erformance.htm)

So now, there's different /kinds/ of noise :-)

Furthermore, the HV10 has a particular disadvantage of quite noticeable blue vertical stripes in very low light conditions. You can see them in footage posted here earlier.

Pieter

Yes, it's a bit noisier in low light but the overall footage is much more usable on the HV20 than the HV10. You also don't see those annoying vertical streaks that show up in low light on the HV10. With 24p engaged, the differences between the 10 and the 20 in low light become striking.

I also find slight color differences on the HV20 compared to the HV10. The HV20 seems just a bit more color neutral....no big deal, but just a slight difference.

Thanks, Pieter and Ken, for clarifying the differences in image quality of the HV20 and HV10 in low light conditions.