Canon Vixia HF11 Camcorder Review

Compression

The AVCHD compression was introduced in 2006 as a joint project between Sony and Panasonic. Up until that time, the only option for high definition video for the consumer was the HDV format, which was only recorded to tape. But people were tiring of tape. For quite a while, the public had done away with VCRs in favor of DVDs. As for standard definition camcorders, the tide was clearly moving away from tape as well, in favor of DVD, hard drive, and card media—all random access media. AVCHD was a method to record HD video on those new media.

Eventually, a ceiling of 24Mbps was agreed upon as the fastest possible bit rate for the AVCHD codec. The first generation camcorders to use the codec were, sadly, much slower than that. But that's only natural, as engineers need time to perfect processes, and board rooms need to plan product lines that will be profitable across several years. After two years (and one month), it's finally here.

Now, you shouldn't put too much stock in bit rate alone. The lens, the sensor, and the processing are all equally if not more important factors that make up image quality. It is big news from a technological standpoint, but it didn't seem to make a huge difference in image quality over the previous generation. You can get the full rundown on video performance earlier in the review.

There are four quality settings on the Canon HF11. The MXP+ setting is the highest, recording at 24Mbps. The FXP setting records at 17Mbps (this was the previous highest bitrate on the HF10 and HF100 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $547.99)). The XP+ records at 12Mbps. The SP setting records at 7Mbps. The LP setting records at 5Mbps.

Media (8.75)
The Canon HF11 received a big upgrade in the media department, increasing its internal flash memory from 16GB in the previous generation to 32GB on the new model. This makes the HF11 the highest capacity flash memory to date, rivaling even the highest quality memory card. Of course, if you need more room than that, your best bet is a hard drive camcorder. The JVC GZ-HD40 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $0.00), for instance, offers 120GB of hard drive memory.

The HF11 also records to removable SD/SDHC cards, if you need to expand beyond the 32GB. Below is a table of approximate record times.

* the full specs on record times were not available at time of publication.

Editing (4.0)
The post-production process for home movies has become a complicated business as the industry moves towards high definition. No more can you count on the one or two formats of standard definition video. No, in today's world there are as many formats as manufacturers, if not more. What's worse, you're hard-pressed to find affordable editing software that works with them all. If you plan on buying a camcorder, we highly recommend that you do a little online research for compatible software.

The AVCHD videos from the Canon HF11 work with Ulead Video Studio 11 Plus, Apple iMovie, Final Cut Express, and others—though they don't all work with equal efficiency, and a lot depends on your computer's hardware.

The Canon HF11 ships with Digital Solutions Disc ver.31.0. This disc includes a number of small programs that help you manage your video and still photos. It allows for the creation of importing video clips, stringing together a little movie, and exporting the final project.