HV 20 - Some first findings
 

Hi there,

Robert Ducon asked me to start this thread. OK, here are some of my first
findings with this impressive little camera.

If anyone is interested, I uploaded some HV20 still images
to Mediafire. The images are captures from an uncompressed
video stream (8-bit 1080i59) recorded from the analogue component
output of the camera, bypassing the HDV compression. The same
shots taken from a HC1 are also included for comparision.

There are some problems, I encountered when playing around with the camera.

(1) HDMI port does not work with DVI -> SDI converters or DVI displays like a
DELL 2405, the output always scales down to 480p.
The HD-Connect MI HDMI converter maintains the correct
resolution but seems to output the wrong colorspace (RGB instead of YCrCb).
Blackmagic intensity now seems to work with new 1.3 intensity drivers.

(2) When zooming in autofocus mode, the camera gets out of focus
and then becomes sharp again continously. This is not a compression side effect,
the behaviour is also visible in the uncompressed signal.
Best solution is to switch off aufofocus during zoom recording (hv20_zoom1-4).

(3) When switching to 24p, the image becomes brighter and it seems that also the
gamma is affected. As expected there is also an increase in SN ratio. When returning
back to 60i the brightness remains at the same level. There seems to be no loss of
resolution between 60i and 24p modes.

(4) I miss a color bar function. I have included a 1920*1080 jpeg image which can
be put on the camera SD card to ease calibration of a monitor during playback (img_0101.jpg).

Link to the zip archive: www.mediafire.com/?ad3yjrjjwjg hv20caps.zip

Regards,

Heinz Bihlmeir

Intensity 1.3 / HV20
 

Update:

BM intensity with drivers 1.3 captures work only in 480i (NTSC), at least for me. I assume the BM guys have to modifiy their HDMI (EDID) handshake
to support this camera in 1080i.

Some great info there Heinz. Thanks very much.

I was considering the BM Card for a few main reasons and capping from this camera before HDV compr was one of them. Should i wait for the drives to be updated for this card just in case or do you think its safe to say they will get updated and i can grab one now?

Cheers

Heinz,

The link you provided don't seem to work. Could you please post the file on rapidshare.de or something else ?
Thanks !

Kristin

Alternate link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/22260792/hv20caps.zip.html

Hope this works.

cheers

Danke schön, Heinz ! For the price the pictures are rather impressive. Since you have the Intensity card, would you please try to cature some live footage uncompressed, once the drivers are OK ? I wonder if there is a huge visible difference between HDV/uncompressed.

I hope you'll find some time to shoot and share some beautiful German landscapes, your Länder is so wunderbar that you can't avoid it !

Kristin

I just returned my HV20 because of that problem. After
reading your comments, I don't think this was a defect...
Too bad.... since the HV20 would have been a wonderful
pocket HD camcorder companion to my bulky XH A1.... :(

By the way, I assume your HV20 was purchased in Germany, no?
My HV20 was bought in the US, from BestBuy.com... if both have
the same problem, I guess that just how Canon engineers designed
it? :(

Leila,

I don't know if the HV10 shows the same problem, but I have never seen such a behaviour on any other camcorder I have used in the past. Maybe the problem can be corrected by a later firmware upgrade, assuming the camera is upgradeable.

My HV20 is from Japan, the kit should be identical to the US model, except some Japanese letters on the camera body and the D-type component cable.

Heinz