  Great video ... bad firewire port
I purchased the HV30 and fell in love at first video frame. Unfortunately, the honeymoon was soon over when I tried to edit. The firewire port on the camera failed after one edit session. This seems to happen frequently with the HV30 as evidenced by the number of owners seeking answers as to why it worked one day with their computers and not the next. Finding solutions are next to impossible though everyone tells you to try this and that. I know that it is not the computer's firewire because I'm able to connect my other video cameras without a hitch. I am sending it back to the factory for repair. I hope this was just part of a bad batch and not systemic.
CANON VIXIA HV30
Great camcorder. Small, great images, easy to use. I love the tape format. We use it to record for our school weekly TV broadcast and also to record the performing arts productions. Parents and students like the clarity of the picture.
the good and the bad, mostly good
the canon hv30 has worked fine so far, the image stablization is much better then my sony dvd 408 model which is why i bought it, the sony is better in low light but using zoom causes a digital shake so i bought the canon for sporting events and high light recording, the sony will be used in low light indoors without using any zoom, the canon's still pictures are better quality then the sony even though the sony is 4 megapixels and the canon is 3.3, i think,i bought the sony external microphone to help with the average audio and horrible wind noise outdoors,paid 80 dollars for it through amazon and it works great, recording to dvd recorder with the canon using the rca hookups produce a decent picture, but the sony using the s cable has a better picture probably because the s hookup is digital, i am ordering a dv input cable to record from the canon camcorder to a dvd player digitally so i expect the picture to improve once i do that, the sony has better hookups then the canon, and is better made, but the digital shake using zoom makes it useless for half of my video needs, its not the camera for i had sony send me a new dvd408 model and it does the same thing, but for high light video and still pictures i like the canon better, i have a sony tripod with the camera controls on the tripod handle which i love, and the canon does not work on it or any other tripod with handle controls, which really sucks, and the canon will come in handy when i finally go to high def., i record in high def. on the camcorder but record to dvd recorder so i don't get a high def. picture, but since i have a standard large screen tv it's no big deal, for the money the canon is recommended, stay away from the sony dvd 408 for the reasons listed above, i can't even sell it on ebay for i am afraid to make someone mad, so im glad at least it works indoors well as long as i use hardly any zoom, needless to say im done buying camcorders for a long time, these two will have to do, too bad sony's image stablization sucks otherwise it would have the canon hv 30 beat, but because of that the canon is better, i can use 40x zoom with no shake at all, love that
Clearly The Best HD Cam
Loved it from the start. Easy to use, smart design, and the colors are perfection. Simply stated - TOP SHELF!
Very good, but not great.
Although not great, the Canon HV30 is a generally very good camera for it's price range. Outdoor day footage is fantastic, indoor footage is so-so. I find it grainy and you really have to move this camera slowly to prevent weird effects you won't like too much.
Editing:
I edit with Avid on a PC at work, and hate everything about it. I didn't buy this camera for work and hope to never attach it to a PC. At home, I own a PowerMac G5 (which uses PowerPC processors, not Intel). The computer is still running, so I don't plan to buy a newer computer anytime soon. That is one reason why I bought this tape-based camera. I wanted it to work with relatively older computers with no headaches. Many reviews say that the other camcorder storage mediums can actually take longer to get footage onto your computer than MiniDV! Also, most Hard Disk and card camcorders won't work with Power PC processors (found in older Macs).
iMovie 2008 had no problem recognizing the Canon Vixia HV30 when using a Firewire (IEEE 1394) cable (which I had to buy seperately). If your computer doesn't have a Firewire (IEEE 1394) port, then I don't think you can import any video footage onto your computer with the USB cable. It seems like the USB connection option is for the still pics only.
Importing and editing HD footage was no problem with iMovie '08. However, I couldn't get iMovie '08 to import SD footage. Maybe there is a setting I couldn't find, but it seems like iMovie expects you to only import HD footage when it recognizes your Canon Vixia HV30. iMovie imports SD footage without problems with my older SD-only video camera (Panasonic PV-GS250).
Final Cut Pro: I had no issues importing and editing anything with Final Cut (again with a Firewire (IEEE 1394) cable). Final Cut doesn't try to figure out the brand name and model of your camcorder like iMovie does.
HD 60i, HD 24p, HD 30p, and both SD settings worked well. But I had to use Easy Setup to tell Final Cut what type of footage I was planning to import ahead of time. Final Cut doesn't detect it automatically.
I could even mix all these types of footage clips onto the same timeline. That's great. I didn't try that with iMovie.
iDVD: I didn't try burning edited footage to a DVD yet, but I doubt iDVD will have any issues. I can't wait for Blu-Ray burners and discs to become readily available. That's another reason why I chose a tape-based camera. Your tapes will contain your stored HD footage as an inexpensive master copy.
Avid Xpress: I have it for my Mac as well, but I don't want to be bothered trying to use it with my Canon Vixia30. If ever I do, I will update this review.
iPhoto had no problem understanding the Canon Vixia HV30's still photos when using a USB cable (provided with camera).
iChat: I was able to use this camcorder as a webcam, but only when I set it for DV. iChat wouldn't acknowledge the camcorder when it was set for HD. Not that I expect the internet to be in HD, but if this camera only shot in HD, then I would lose out on being able to use it as a webcam. Also, I had to attch the camcorder to my Mac with a Firewire (IEEE 1394) cable in order for iChat to recognize it.
CONS:
Indoor image quality is a grainy. It is not horrible, but you definitely will notice it. Also, maybe I have a wrong setting but when I move the camera during indoor shooting, image quality gets bad. Images seem to stutter/freeze for an instant. It doesn't matter whether I recorded at 60i, 24p or 30p. But 60i reduced the problem. I can see this problem quite easily when hooking the camera up to my 42 inch LCD 1080p TV with an HDMI cable (HDMI cable not included with camcorder). Had I watched my footage on a regular TV with RCA cables, maybe I wouldn't notice the stutter/freezing as much...but then why buy an HD camera??? I did play around with the slow shutter feature to disable it, but it only helped the problem a little.
Outdoor image quality is much better, but again moving the camera other than very slowly gives you unpleasant effects. ..especially on the 24p and 30p settings.
No charger other than the camera. With my Panasonic PV-GS250 the little box between the power cord and the camcorder was the charger, unlike this Canon that uses the camera as the charger. So, I could use the Panasonic with one battery and charge another battery at the same time. With this Canon, you are forced to buy a separate charger to do that.
No neck strap. C'mon Canon. Pfffrrrt.
For still photography, you can shoot lower quality pics while videotaping, but if you want to snap higher quality pics while not videotaping, then you have to slide a switch before you can start snapping pics. Then slide it back when you plan to shoot video. Why? This is annoying and makes no sense! With my Panasonic, you can snap pics anytime. The camera can detect automatically whether or not you are shooting video.
Also, for still pics, you need a "MiniSD" card. This is one of the hardest and rarest cards to find. Then when you find it, it likely won't be on special. I went to 4 top electronics stores trying to find one, and only 1 store had something I could use. It was a "MicroSD" card that comes with a MiniSD adapter. So, of course I had to pay more. All other cards had some sort of special discount happening except this one. You might have more luck ordering one online from somewhere. But really, Canon should have just used a regular SD card slot for this video camera. The MiniSD is only a few millimetres smaller.
This camera is not very ergonomic. It is hard to hold it and stay comfortable in your hand.
The viewfinder is not adjustable and has no rubber eye guard.
It has a built in light, which is great, but it is cool blue and that just doesn't make things appear warm and natural on screen.
I don't think you can get video footage onto your computer without a Firewire cable (not provided with camera). Not really an issue except that Apple seems to be phasing out the Firewire port and not every PC has them either.
The built in mics are at the front of the camera, but they are on top facing up. My old Panasonic SD camera has the mics in front, but below the lens and facing forward. It seems to produce better sound that way than the Canon, but the Canon has decent sound.
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