The list author says: "I bought these cameras, (and others) but these are the few I do not regret. - The manufacturer will tell you the benefits. I'm here to tell you the regrets these things come with as well."
"Great all around. Picture is IDENTICAL to my $8K XL-H1. PROs = Cheapest workhorse with real focus ring and NO "tape capture". Incredibly high quality. (Mathematically 4x the bandwidth of HDV.) || CONS = NO ANALOG VIDEO INPUT. - You cannot play a VCR tape/XBOX game/etc. and record it INTO this camera. LAME!"
"Next step down from the G10. - You DO IN FACT lose some picture quality. I promise you. - You also lose the focus ring. But for half the cost... having something this close is very cool. - Also has no analog video input."
"The HV-20 is a legend because it can shoot HD for $350, has a bunch of aftermarket professional gear, and a GREAT community of users. YES IT DOES HAVE AN ANALOG VIDEO INPUT! Which means you can attach an external camera such as a hidden cam/helmet cam, or record from a VCR or XBOX etc. - CONS = It uses TAPE and that means a long and painful capture process."
"Great image. If you could only get it OUT of the camera. It uses TAPE. Not the best for image quality OR capturing. It has 3 native 1920 sensors. So to dump THAT quality to TAPE is a crime. The viewfinder SUCKS. There is a device called a SAMURAI which you can attach so that it captures straight to PRORES that has a 5 inch LCD monitor on it. The combination of the 2 is awesome."
