I was wondering if this camcorder might be what I am looking for!

Ive got a Pana GS280 at the moment which is soon for eBay as its low light quality is terrible and it suffers a huge amount of CCD smear.

I was thinking of getting a 2nd hand XM2 for around the £800/900 mark but it is getting on in life (launched 2004/5 I think) and this new HV20 looks interesting.

I know you probably havent had one to play with in the flesh yet but could you make an educated guess as to what it will be like.

Being a CMOS chip will it remove the nasty HAD CCD smear/flare problem when shooting cars at night (headlamps, dazzle, street lights etc) and what will it be like for very low light, comparable, better or worse than the XM2 which was REALLY good?

I'd be initially using it for DV resolution stuff, the fact its HD doesnt really interest me at present as my stuff will end up on DVD and on the net anyway, its just low noise, low light and decent manual controls I am after and the XM2 had the lot - just a shame its still so expensive (even 2nd hand) and its also a few years old now.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Rikki

PS: Im based in Scotland so it would be the PAL version I would be interested, if that makes any differences at all. THanks.

Rikki,

The downconverted (PAL 720*576) HDV video make amazing details !

Wait and buy the HV20 ...its fix

Hi Robert, how will it be for low light use though and are the manual controls similar to the XM2?

Thanks

R

the manual controls not similar

but if XM2 and HV20 low light performance similar or maybe HV20 little poorly,
HDV to SD PAL conversion good for noise reduction... the grain disappear

i tested HV10 little noisy HDV footage convert to SD PAL and i not see grain..

i used the last years XM1 but the low light performance not a best...i dont no XM2 details but maybe similar (?)

sorry my bad english

Im going to hold off in the meantime as I dont wan the same disappointment as I had with the Panachronic.

Once people begin to buy the 20's I'll probably post this question again and work from there. I suppose the GS will have to be my camcorder option for the next month or two :)

Thanks for your help and watch out for my posts in future ! :D

Rikki