Canon Vixia HF20 Camcorder Review

Canon HF20 versus Sanyo VPC-HD2000
• The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 performed better in every video performance category, except video resolution • The VPC-HD2000 has a wide variety of frame rates, including native 1080/60p • Some may be put off by the HD2000 upright, pistol-grip design • The VPC-HD2000 doesn't include any internal memory, so a better comparison may be with the Canon HF200 (also records solely to SD/SDHC cards)
	Audio & Other Features	(Page 12 of 17)	Panasonic HDC-SD20 Comparison

Being the first consumer camcorder to offer native 1080/60p video recording, the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 is full of surprises. It wowed us with excellent overall video performance, and its achievements in our low light testing have so far been unmatched by any other consumer camcorder. With an approximate street price of around $600 to top it all off, the VPC-HD2000 sounds like a steal. Of course, the camcorder also has an upright, pistol-grip design, and many of the features may be too quirky to win over traditional camcorder enthusiasts.  It doesn't have optical image stabilization, includes no internal memory, and its navigation joystick is second-rate. Still, it is a good camcorder—and if you're basing solely on video performance, the VPC-HD2000 is hands-down better than the Canon HF20.

	Comparison Specs
	Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000
Price	$899	Approx. $600 (not released in US yet)
Primary Recording Media	32GB internal flash memory	SD/SDHC memory card
Secondary Recording Media	SD/SDHC memory card	None
Image Sensor	1/4-inch CMOS	1/2.5-inch CMOS
Effective Pixel Count	2.99 Megapixels (video) 3.31 Megapixels (stills)	5.31 Megapixels (video) 8.0 Megapixels (stills)
Mic Input	Yes, 3.5mm	Yes, 3.5mm
LCD/Viewfinder	2.7-inch LCD with 211,00-pixel resolution	2.7-inch LCD with 230,000-pixel resolution
Weight	400g (including battery)	311g (including battery)
Dimensions	70 x 62 x 124mm	90 x 112.6 x 54.4mm
HD	Yes	Yes
Optical Zoom	15x	10x
Frame Rates	1080/60i, 24p, 30p (not natively progressive)	HD: 1080/60p, 1080/60i, 1080/30p, 720/30p SD: 240fps (448 x 336), 600fps (192 x 108) (native progressive)
Image Stabilization	Optical	Digital

In our performance testing, the VPC-HD2000 beat out the Canon HF20 in every category—except video resolution. The VPC-HD2000 did particularly well with low light performance, which is where the HF20 performed very poorly.

Low Light Comparison at 60 lux
Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000

Video Resolution Scores