Canon HG10 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Aug 9, 2007 8:40 AM 
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Compression (7.0)
The Canon HG10 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1299.99) compresses video in the AVCHD format in four qualities. Each quality corresponds to a bit rate: HXP (15Mbps), XP (9Mbps), SP (7Mbps), and LP (5Mbps). These are exactly the same bit rates as Sony’s AVCHD HDD camcorders; the HDR-SR1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99), SR5, and SR7 (Specs, Recent News, $1399). It makes a significant step forward from Canon’s own DVD camcorder, the HR10 (Specs, Recent News, $0), which has a maximum bit rate of 12Mbps. The reason for the increase is simple; DVDs just don’t spin fast enough. An HDD does not have the same constraints, so we get a quality boost. Of course, none of the AVCHD camcorders released to date have come close to the format’s theoretical ceiling of 24Mbps.
A camcorder’s compression method has a huge impact on video quality. This becomes particularly clear with the HG10. The HV20 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $903), released early this year, uses HDV compression, which is older but has a much higher quality, particularly in regard to how it renders motion. AVCHD tends to show compression artifacts – blocky, pixilated groupings of image aberrations.
We should also note that Canon employs a slightly different AVCHD compression algorithm from other manufacturers. The traditional method, called main profile compression, uses 4 x 4 pixel blocks for all parts of the image in a given frame, regardless of how much detail is in it. The HG10 uses high profile compression, which scans the image to determine which parts of the frame have more or less detail. Areas of less detail, like a big blue sky, are compressed in a lower resolution 8 x 8 block, while more detailed areas, like the grass under the sky, are compressed in 4 x 4 blocks. This method conserves space, maximizing the amount of recording time.
Media (7.0)
The Canon HG10 comes equipped with a 40GB HDD, a decent capacity for most uses. Shooting in the highest quality, HPX, the camcorder will hold up to 5.5 hours of video, then 9.5 hours in XP mode, 11.5 hours in SP mode, and 15 hours in LP mode. Of course, we recommend shooting in the highest quality settings, but everyone has those moments where pinching is necessary.
For vacations or shoots where you’re likely to exceed five hours of recording time, there are a few options for exporting footage off the HDD. You can bring your laptop along, or ask to use the captain’s desktop if you’re on a cruise. For those looking to travel lighter, stand-alone DVD burners are available, though finding one that works with Canon AVCHD camcorders might be tricky.
Editing (4.0)
Editing AVCHD footage is not impossible anymore, but it’s certainly no joy. Two programs have emerged that offer a decent array of editing tools for unconverted AVCHD files (.m2t extension for PCs): Ulead Video Studio 11 Plus and Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8. There are lots of other tools out there that allow you to convert AVCHD files to MPEG2 or whatever you need, and probably a few programs we don’t even know about, but these are the big two. Unfortunately, Vegas is only available with Sony AVCHD camcorders, not Panasonic or Canon. So we’re left with Ulead.
There are further constraints. Software engineers were tearing their hair out for awhile trying to create efficient ways to deal with the tightly woven algorithms. Working with AVCHD is taxing on your computer, and you’re going to need a powerhouse processor and memory to do it with any expediency.