Canon Vixia HG20 is a great HD camcorder that is really easy to use and the looks too are pretty good. It has a lot in common with Vixia HF11 also by the same manufacturer but instead of using a internal flash memory, this camcorder is hard drive based. The performance is on par with Sony Handycam HDR-SR11 and in the end, it comes to whether you prefer hard disk or flash memory for storing the matter. Flash will cost you extra though.
Apart from the difference in price (which depends on where you buy the product from), there are only a handful of spec changes on the HG20 and HF11. The biggest one is the 60 GB hard drive on HG20 against the 32 GB internal memory on the HF11. For recording time, it is five and half hours to two hours and 55 minutes at the 24 Mbps mode. You can put SDHC cards inside for more memory. However, there are more differences between the HG21 and its sibling the HG20 with a larger 120 GB hard disk and the HG21 also has eye-level viewfinder.
Apart from the capacity, the difrrence between the Canon Vixia HG20 and Canon Vixia HF11 is that the latter is lighter and smaller at 2.9 inches width x 2.5 inches height x 5.1 inches depth. As opposed to this, the HG 20 is 3.1 inches wide x 3 inches high x 5.4 inches deep and weighs 17.6 ounces. Position for I/O jacks and controls of the two devices are altered as well. The most notable change is that the dial which switches between the video/still playback and video/still record is located on the back of the HG20 and side of the HG11. However, the controls on both the models are easy to operate and big enough.
The function button and 5-way joystick are on the screen bezel. The display is a bit small at just 2.7 inches. The controls are located on the screen instead of below the thumb makes it a bit hard to access the settings and keep this camcorder steady at the same time. Focussing with joystick on the Canon Vixia HG20 can be a pain in spite of zoom-view focus assist.
Canon Vixia HG20 will record the AVCHD video at 24 Mbps maximum bit rate and it can hold about a little less than three hours of video at the lowest setting of 5 Mbps. The device has 5 settings for the quality which I thought was a bit too much.
[Etechreviews.net]
Apart from the difference in price (which depends on where you buy the product from), there are only a handful of spec changes on the HG20 and HF11. The biggest one is the 60 GB hard drive on HG20 against the 32 GB internal memory on the HF11. For recording time, it is five and half hours to two hours and 55 minutes at the 24 Mbps mode. You can put SDHC cards inside for more memory. However, there are more differences between the HG21 and its sibling the HG20 with a larger 120 GB hard disk and the HG21 also has eye-level viewfinder.
Apart from the capacity, the difrrence between the Canon Vixia HG20 and Canon Vixia HF11 is that the latter is lighter and smaller at 2.9 inches width x 2.5 inches height x 5.1 inches depth. As opposed to this, the HG 20 is 3.1 inches wide x 3 inches high x 5.4 inches deep and weighs 17.6 ounces. Position for I/O jacks and controls of the two devices are altered as well. The most notable change is that the dial which switches between the video/still playback and video/still record is located on the back of the HG20 and side of the HG11. However, the controls on both the models are easy to operate and big enough.
The function button and 5-way joystick are on the screen bezel. The display is a bit small at just 2.7 inches. The controls are located on the screen instead of below the thumb makes it a bit hard to access the settings and keep this camcorder steady at the same time. Focussing with joystick on the Canon Vixia HG20 can be a pain in spite of zoom-view focus assist.
Canon Vixia HG20 will record the AVCHD video at 24 Mbps maximum bit rate and it can hold about a little less than three hours of video at the lowest setting of 5 Mbps. The device has 5 settings for the quality which I thought was a bit too much.
[Etechreviews.net]