Canon Vixia HF100 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on May 13, 2008 3:09 PM 
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Compression (7.0)
The Canon HF100 (Review, Specs, Recent News, ) compresses video in the AVCHD format. AVCHD is now in its third generation in camcorders, and is finally starting to turn the tide away from tape-based HDV, previously the only HD option for consumers. Sure, it's great that the average camcorder owner could finally record HD footage to DVD, disk drive, or flash memory, but it took a while for the video quality to match that of HDV.
The Canon HF10, HF100, and Sony HDR-SR12 (Review, Specs, $1399.00) are the three best AVCHD camcorders we've seen to date. All offer very strong performance in both bright light and low light, with less motion trailing and compression artifacting (chunky blocks of pixelation). The HF100 records at a maximum of 17Mbps, the highest of any consumer manufacturer. This year also saw an increase in outputted resolution from 1440 x 1080 to 1920 x 1080. Combined, it makes for great compression, far better than earlier generations of AVCHD camcorders.
There are four quality settings on the HF100, each of which corresponds to a maximum bitrate: FXP (17 Mbps), XP+ (12 Mbps), SP (7 Mbps), and LP (5Mbps). There is no standard definition recording option on the HF100.
Media (6.0)
The Canon HF100 records all video and stills solely to removable SD and SDHC cards. There is no internal memory, as you get with the step-up Canon HF10. Canon provides no memory card in the box. That means you'll have to buy a card at the same time, unless you already have one. Stay on the lookout for retailers offering deals on camcorder+card bundles.
The SD/SDHC card slot in the LCD cavity
SD and SDHC cards are easy to use, very sturdy, and the price is dropping. However, relying strictly on cards is a risky proposition for shooting over long periods of time (like vacations). They fill up quicker than you think, and if you don't have a place to dump the data, you may find yourself frantically looking through the Italian/English dictionary for this phrase "Do you carry memory cards for this camcorder?"
On the plus side, cards and other kinds of solid state media are highly energy efficient because it means there are no moving parts in the recording process. Cards are also more reusable than DVDs and tapes because there's virtually no "wear and tear" through the erase/re-write process. Below is a table of what you can expect for recording capacities.
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FXP (17Mbps) |
XP (12Mbps) |
SP (7Mbps) |
LP (5Mbps) |
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2GB SD/SDHC Card |
15 min |
20 min |
35 min |
45 min |
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4GB SD/SDHC Card |
30 min |
40 min |
70 min |
90 min |
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8GB SD/SDHC Card |
60 min |
85 min |
140 min |
180 min |
Editing (4.0)
Editing AVCHD video files from the Canon HF100 is not the easiest thing in the world, which is a fairly compelling reason for beginners to steer clear of AVCHD for a while longer. Editing solutions have been slow to develop, and though they're out there, finding one that is guaranteed to work with footage from any manufacturer's camcorder is tricky. Canon, Sony, and Panasonic all have slightly different types of AVCHD. Before you purchase any camcorder, be sure to do some online research regarding compatibility.
The video from the HF100 should be compatible with software from Ulead, Pinnacle, iMovie, and Final Cut. As far as we could tell, Sony Vegas software does not support Canon HF100 video.