Canon Vixia HV40 Camcorder Review

Motion & Sharpness Performance Summary
• Lots of alternate frame rate options—including a native-progressive 24p mode. • The camcorder captured smooth motion, but showed more presence of artifacting than high-end AVCHD models. • The HV40 managed decent sharpness, but other models did better in this test.
	Color & Noise Performance	(Page 4 of 17)	Low Light Performance

Motion (11.7)

One of the new features on the HV40 is its native-progressive 24p frame rate options. Most alternate frame rates on consumer camcorders actually record at 60i and convert the footage to 24p or 30p using a pulldown system that eliminates certain frames. The HV40's native 24p mode is the real deal—it records to tape at 24 frames per second. The HV40 also comes with non-native 24p and 30p modes as well, both of which record to tape as 60i using the method discussed above. Now, we didn't notice much of a difference between the two 24p modes when we viewed the footage on a television, but the native 24p option gives you significant advantages in post-production. All the videos shown below were shot using each camcorder's regular 60i frame rate. (More on how we test motion.)

The HV40 had a bit more artifacting than the AVCHD Canon camcorders (the HF S100, HF S10, HF S11, HF20 and HF200). This means AVCHD has come a long way as a compression system to outdo a classic codec like HDV. The HV40 did have a slightly smoother image, however, and it showed less trailing—although not by much. Overall, we give the edge to the HV40 in our motion test because of its extra frame rate options, but the Canon HF S series of camcorders is really just as good at capturing motion.

The main thing to notice is that the HF S100 manages to record sharper video than the HV40... with less artifacting. This is very impressive for the HF S100 because we didn't notice much of an advantage with last year's AVCHD models. The HF S100 does offer 24p and 30p frame rates, but neither of them are natively progressive (unlike the HV40's native 24p option).

The Panasonic HDC-TM300 didn't capture motion as well as either the HV40 or the HF S100, but it was right on their heels. In our testing, we noticed a bit more artifacting on the TM300's motion video, but that was really the only thing that made it worse than the Canon camcorders. The HDC-TM300 does have a 24p mode (called Digital Cinema), but it is not native progressive and is recorded at 60i.

The Sony HDR-XR520V rendered similar motion to the Panasonic HDC-TM300, but it produced slightly less motion artifacting. Both camcorders captured moving subjects smoothly and had an equivalent amount of minor trailing and blur issues. The Sony, however, does not offer any alternate frame rates other than its regular 60i shooting mode.

Video Sharpness (10.19)

Video sharpness is a key element to measuring video quality because it gives you an idea of how much detail a camcorder will be able to capture in its image. The Canon HV40 was quite good with sharpness, but it was definitely a notch below some of the high-end AVCHD camcorders out there. The HV40 measured a horizontal sharpness of 700 lw/ph and a vertical sharpness of 600 lw/ph. Compare these numbers to the Canon HF S100, which earned 800 lw/ph horizontal and 650 lw/ph vertical, and you can see the difference we're talking about. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 and the Sony HDR-XR520V also bested the Canon HV40 in this category, although the results were close. (More on how we test video sharpness.)

During the test, we noticed the Canon HV40 managed a vertical resolution of around 750 lw/ph when the camcorder and the subject we shot were perfectly still. Once we put the camcorder in motion there was a lot of aliasing and the lines on our sharpness chart began to break up around 600 lw/ph. We score our sharpness test with the camcorder in motion, however, which is why we gave the HV40 a final vertical sharpness of 600 lw/ph. This is actually a very common occurrence with camcorders, although the difference between sharpness in motion versus still usually isn't that substantial.

Video Sharpness Score Comparison		Compare the Canon HV40 to the Canon HF S100
		Compare the Canon HV40 to the Panasonic HDC-TM300
		Compare the Canon HV40 to the Sony HDR-XR520V