Canon HV30 frame rates put to test on YouTube

When Canon announced the HV30 high definition camcorder, they claimed the new 30P frame rate option would be a magical setting for your online videos (in so many words). It looks like our tests prove it is somewhat of a benefit. We tested the HV30 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $0.00) at three different frame rates - 24P, 30P, and 60i - to see what difference it would make on YouTube.

Clips were captured in their respective frame rates. However, you should note that the HV30's actual outputted video is always 60i. You'll see a big difference as to how motion is rendered, but you're not actually editing native 24P or 30P.

Each clip was edited in Adobe Premiere and exported a high quality .AVI file. Then, according to our "best methods for YouTube" instructions, we then threw the .AVIs into Windows Movie Maker. For some baffling reason this produces high quality compressions at preposterously small file sizes. The three videos were then uploaded to the infamous YouTube, and here you have them.

30P mode is by far the smoothest, while 24P displays that dreadful motion blur. 60i looks better than 24P, but you'll still notice some ghosting here and there.  Since YouTube crapifies the quality of any video, why not salvage at least the motion by shooting in 30P? Since most sites down-compress video frame rates, it just makes sense.

All three clips are cut to match each other, so you can hit play on all of them and compare, if your screen is large enough.

 Canon HV30 1080/24P

 Canon HV30 1080/30P