After lots of reading of reviews I've come down to either the Canon HG10 or HV20. We will be going on a multi-year boat trip and want to shoot a documentary style story about our trip. Any comments on which unit you would select and why? I'm leaning towards the HV20 because I think it might be a easier (cheaper) format to save the multiple hours of video as apposed to having to carry multiple hard drives to save all the hrs of footage.

Thanks

HV20, better quality. HG10 is more convenient, but not better looking.

And the HV30 is even better looking.

I like the hv20, as much as people knock tapes, they're pretty easy when you're in the field. and the quality is better. and with tape you just pop in a new one immediately, instead of having to dump the footage to a computer at ~realtime.