Canon XL H1 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Nov 7, 2006 10:00 AM
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Audio (10.0)
The XL H1 has an excellent suite of audio controls and enough inputs to bring in audio from practically any source. While the onboard audio capabilities of the XL H1 are no replacement for a dedicated mixer, they do provide enough control for one-man-band style shooting. It’s difficult to imagine fine-tuning the camcorder’s onboard audio controls on the run, but it is relatively easy to set up two external mics that need only basic monitoring such as a camera-mounted shotgun and a wireless lav on the talent.
The onboard microphone is an electret stereo condenser with a wide pickup pattern that Canon reports as 120 degrees, though in our informal tests, the mic picked up audio at even 180 with little drop-off. A switch on the mic itself toggles between mono and stereo signals. We found the onboard mic’s sound quality to be quite tinny, and barely usable for anything other than ambient sound recording. Even at very close quarters, the mic’s wide pickup pattern made it a poor choice for picking up dialogue. Luckily the on-camera shock mount has a wide enough diameter to accommodate most third-party mics like the Audio Technica AT-4073 or Sanken CS-1 with a little customization, and is isolated from the camcorder by rubber feet. The shoe serves as a second option if you prefer to use your own shock mount.
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The camcorder’s audio controls are clustered in two locations: to the rear of the Power/Mode dial on the left side, and on the back of the camcorder body above the XLR inputs. The XLR inputs are well-placed just above the shoulder mount to allow cables to trail over your shoulder as you shoot hand-held. Moving up the body are on/off 20dB attenuator switches for channels 1/3 and channels 2/4, labeled MIC ATT. The 20dB attenuator pads the audio signal considerably, and could be used to create a safety channel in highly dynamic sound environments like air shows…or war zones. Just above the attenuator switches are on/off +48V phantom power switches corresponding to channels 1/3 and 2/4. This switch enables you to power mics requiring 48V power directly from the XL H1. The Line/Mic selector switch is directly above the phantom power switches. Move up the camcorder’s rear a little further and you’ll find the headphone output, protected by a small rubber port cover and a phones level dial with a curious design carried over from the XL2. This could best be described as a thumb-pad dial, as it's set flat against the body of the camcorder, and has a textured surface. While I’m not a big fan of this particular control since it requires an awkward twisting motion to adjust, it’s not something you are likely to use often and is effective.
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Audio input selection and mixing happens on the left side of the XL H1, where these controls are protected by a large hatch that opens on a hinge at the rear. When the hatch is closed, the audio level dials are still accessible through round portholes, but the rest of the left-side controls are hidden. When you open the hatch, you’ll find that the controls are divided into two sections with the bottom half labeled Audio 1 for channels 1 and 2, and the top half labeled Audio 2 for channels 3 and 4. Audio 2 is only used when you are recording four channel audio.
On the left side of the Audio 1 section are two switches for Input Select and Recording Level. The Input Select switch includes options for Front Mic (the onboard Canon mic), Audio 1 (for the bottom two RCA ports on the camcorder’s right side, also labeled Audio 1) and Rear (for the XLR inputs). The Recording Level switch toggles between Auto and Manual level control.
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Above the level dials, to the right, are two additional switches. The first, labeled REC CH SELECT corresponds to the XLR inputs with options for CH1 and CH1-CH 2. CH 1 sends the left signal to channel 1 and the right input to channel 2, while CH 1-CH 2 sends a single XLR signal to both channels. The second switch labeled FRONT MIC ATT is an on/off control for the onboard mic 20dB attenuator. As mentioned previously, the attenuator switches for external mics are located on the camcorder’s rear.
The manual audio level control dials for channels 1 and 2 are on the bottom left of the Audio 1 section and simply allow you to turn the signal up or down with no corresponding measure of absolute audio signal level. The levels are represented in the LCD by two horizontal bars with a green dot indicating a safe peak level, and red markers at the right side of each bar indicating signal clipping. Along with the 20dB attenuator, it is possible to boost your XLR signals by 12dB in the Audio Setup Menu. It’s not an interface that gives you much information about the quality of your audio signal, but it is adequate for run-and-gun shooting.
The Audio 2 section lies above Audio 1, and should only be used when you are recording 4 channel audio, an option selected in the Audio Setup Menu. The Input Select switch selects your audio source for channels 3 and 4, with options for SHOE (corresponding to accessories connected to the hot accessory shoe such as the MA-300 adaptor which adds two more XLR inputs), while the REC LEVEL switch selects auto or manual level control. The dials allow manual control over channels 3 and 4. Just below and to the left of the Power/Mode dial is an Audio Monitor button that allows you to select which channels you are monitoring when recording 4-channel audio. It is not possible to monitor all four channels at once as the LCD and side panel only display two level bars at a time, but you can toggle between 1/2, 3/4 and a mix of 1/2 and 3/4 with each channel pair represented by one of the bars. When audio is recorded to four channels in HDV mode, sound quality will be compromised because the total audio transfer rate of 384 kbps is split four ways.
VCR Mode (9.0)
The VCR feature on the XL H1 is extremely easy to use because the camcorder includes a complete button-based playback interface. VCR buttons are located on top of the handle behind a protective plastic cover, and include familiar controls for Pause, Stop, Rewind, Play, Fast Forward, and Record. The only drawback to the VCR interface is that the vertical alignment makes reading the buttons upside down tough, but this is a minor complaint.
The VCR feature on the XL H1 is extremely easy to use because the camcorder includes a complete button-based playback interface. VCR buttons are located on top of the handle behind a protective plastic cover, and include familiar controls for Pause, Stop, Rewind, Play, Fast Forward, and Record. The only drawback to the VCR interface is that the vertical alignment makes reading the buttons upside down tough, but this is a minor complaint.
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Ports (18.0)
The XL H1 is replete with ports and terminals, mostly clustered on the back and right sides of the camcorder body. On the right side of the camcorder, near the back edge of the body, is a large plastic port cover that protects a number of video and audio terminals. At the top of this cluster is an S-Video in/out, followed by a BNC video in/out terminal and an RCA video in/out terminal. A toggle switch selects BNC or RCA video. Below the video terminals are two sets of RCA in/out terminals, corresponding to Audio 1 (channels 1/3 and 2/4 during two channel audio recording) and Audio 2 (channels 3/4 during four channel audio recording.)
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The Professional Jack Pack terminals are aligned horizontally on the right side of the shoulder rest and include from left to right: timecode-in, timecode-out, GEN-Lock and HD/SD-SDI. Also on the right side of the camcorder, near the microphone shock mount is the terminal for the XL H1’s stock mic.
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On the back of the camcorder is another cluster of terminals, beginning from the top with a headphone-out port protected by a small port cover. Below this port is a larger port cover that conceals DV and LANC terminals. At the base of the camcorder’s back are two XLR ports, and a component out terminal is located on the rear of the shoulder mount.
On the left side of the camcorder is a socket for the stock color viewfinder, and below that is a socket for the optional high-resolution FU-1000 monochrome viewfinder.
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