Convergence

Canon's new HR10 high-definition video camcorder has many features in common with the HG10 and HV20 models we have already reviewed. All three have the same optically-stabilised 10x optical zoom lens and 1920 x 1080 True Progressive HD CMOS sensor. But instead of recording to tape or hard disk drive, the HR10 uses 8cm mini DVD disks as its recording media.

The HR10's body is slightly slimmer and more svelte than the others and its price is mid-way between them. It's slightly heavier than the HG10 but marginally lighter than the HV20. Build quality is generally good, although the cap on the memory card holder is less secure than we'd like. The electronic viewfinder is the same as the HG10 and HV20, which means it's small and cramped and has a hard surround that makes it uncomfortable to use.

The 2.7-inch widescreen LCD is the same as the other two models, so its resolution is not particularly high (211,000 pixels). Fortunately, its anti-reflection coating and brightness and backlight adjustments make it usable in bright conditions. However, menu items are not particularly easy to read with some lighting angles. The rechargeable battery tucks in under the LCD screen, where it is held by a clip. It's charged in the camera by plugging the AC adaptor cable into a socket on the front of the camcorder and hooking up mains power.

Above the LCD are four buttons: Quick Start, Funct. (for accessing the on-screen menus), Disp. (for switching on-screen data displays on and off) and  a Print/Share button for direct printing via a USB cable and transferring image files to a computer. The Quick Start and Display buttons cover the same functions as parallel buttons in the HG10 and HV20 camcorders. The memory card slot is located just below the battery under the LCD. It has a chunky, lift-up cap covering the card slot for miniSD cards.

Below the viewfinder eyepiece is a slider that switches between video and stills recording. The joystick/arrow pad is just below that and further down another slider switches the camera on and off. A large Start/Stop button for controlling video recording is located right of the arrow pad on the rear of the DVD housing, which covers the entire side of the camcorder body.

Rear of the battery – and covered by the LCD screen when it is closed – are USB and component-out ports plus a slider lock for the battery. A hard plastic cover lifts up just behind the LCD to reveal HDMI and AV out ports. We have a few reservations about the strength of the plastic ties tethering this lid.

Setting up the HR10 for recording is straightforward, although both disks and memory cards must be initialised in the camera before they can be recorded on. The process is wizard-driven and the wizard activates automatically when a new disk or card is detected. Recorded disks must be finalised before they can be played. If capacity remains on the disk after it has been finalised, some types of disks can be 'unfinalised' to allow additional footage to be stored.

The HR10 can record video onto DVD-R, DVD-RW of DVD-R Dual Layer disks. With the highest quality setting (XP+), you can record up to 15 minutes of HD video on a DVD-R/RW disk, while a Dual Layer disk extends the recording time to 27 minutes. Using the LP mode lets you record an hour of XP+ video on a standard disk or 108 minutes of standard 4:3 LP video. Quality is compromised with both LP settings.

HD video is recorded at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with progressive scanning with AVCHD compression. Clips are then converted into interlaced video in the camera. Most software applications will subsequently re-size recordings to 1440 x 1080 pixel resolution for display on widescreen TVs. Disks recorded in HD format can only be played at full resolution on AVCHD-compatible DVD players.

Controls
Like its 'cousins' the HR10 is designed primarily for point-and-shoot users and tucks its more sophisticated controls away in a menu that can only be accessed when the slider just in front of the zoom rocker has been moved from the Auto position to P.

In Auto mode, you can select the video recording mode and choose between HD and standard definition, each mode offering XP (highest quality), SP and LP settings. You can also set the aspect ratio for standard definition video and choose between widescreen and 4:3 recording. The menu lets you set white balance, metering pattern, image and digital effects, drive modes and recording modes. You can also choose from four still picture sizes and three quality settings.

P mode lets you choose between Program AE, Av (aperture-priority) and Tv (shutter priority shooting modes. You can also select from a collection of eight Scene pre-sets.

Adjustments within the Av and Tv modes are carried out by pressing the Funct. button and toggling with the joystick on the arrow pad. The set value is displayed in the upper left corner of the monitor screen. Exposure compensation adjustments are made

Operating the HR10 is straightforward, with most settings accessed via the joystick plus Set button. However, since the HR10 lacks the rotating selector of the HG10, the joystick takes on the selection role. The arrow pad only indicates toggling directions and the joystick is rather short so it can be difficult to use for those with large fingers or limited dexterity. Pressing the Set button will save existing settings or confirm an action displayed on the menu screen. In movie mode, pressing the Set button and toggling right turns on the video light, which isn't particularly bright.

Digital zoom, zoom speed adjustments, AF modes, focus assist, slow shutter functions and video and digital effects are the same as the HG10. Recording mode options also include the same 13 programmed AE modes and, like its H-series 'cousins' the HR10 includes a PF25 mode that can shoot progressively-scanned frames at 25 fps. When combined with the Cine Mode setting, this gives a 'cinematic' look to video recordings. (The normal frame rate is 50 frames/second.)

Recording Stills
As with the other H-series camcorders, still pictures can only be recorded on a miniSD card.  Top resolution is equivalent to 3.1 megapixels – which involves a small amount of interpolation. You can choose between 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio for high and low resolution shots. Five image sizes are provided with three selectable compression levels and there's a built-in flash to assist low-light shooting.

Continuous shooting and exposure bracketing options are the same as the HG10. You can record snapshots while shooting video and capture a 1920 x 1080 pixel still picture from a video clip in playback mode. Compression levels appear to be the same as in the HG10, according to Canon's data. Typical file sizes are shown in the table below.

Software
The HR10 is supplied with two software disks Canon's Digital Video Solution Disk v26.0 and the Corel Application Disc v. 1.0. The former contains ZoomBrowser EX v. 5.8, DV TWAIN Driver v. 6.6 and Apple Quick Time for Windows plus ImageBrowser v. 5.8 for Macintosh. The latter carries the Corel Guide Menu, InterVideo WinDVD SE, Ulead DVD Movie Factory SE and DVD Movie Writer SE. We've covered these applications in the review of the HG10.

Performance
Video quality from the test camcorder was similar to the recordings we made with the HG10 and HV20. Pictures were sharp and detailed with elevated saturation and contrast. These qualities were duplicated in still shots from the camera and confirmed by our Imatest assessments. Imatest also showed resolution to be high for the sensor's photosite count.

Fast-moving subjects were recorded on video without smearing and the stabilisation system proved effective when shooting with full optical zoom – as long as you remain still. It had difficulty compensating for the body movement associated with walking. Autofocusing was generally fast and accurate in bright conditions but somewhat slower with reduced light levels, especially for close subjects.

Still pictures recorded with 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution were also sharp and detailed and well up to the standard you would expect from a 3-megapixel digicam. However, still frames 'grabbed' from video footage were not nearly as sharp and detailed and noise was visible in shots taken in dim lighting. Contrast also tended to be higher than in shots recorded in photo mode.

Audio quality was better than the HG10, although the wind filter was less effective than in the other H-series models. The pick-up ability of the built-in microphone was outstanding and, as long as the microphone was protected from the wind, soundtracks were clearly recorded. Auto white balance performance was outstanding; the camera delivered close-to-natural colour rendition under both incandescent and fluorescent lighting. The pre-sets fared less well but the manual measurement setting delivered similar results to the auto setting.

When the HR10 was set to photo mode it took 6.5 seconds to power up and we measured an average capture lag for still shots of 1.1 seconds. This reduced to 0.4 seconds with pre-focusing. The continuous shooting mode recorded shots at 0.4 second intervals. For movie shooting, it took just over 20 seconds to spin up the disk and ready it for shooting. Fortunately, once the disk was spinning, there was no lag between starting and stopping a recording and going from one clip to the next.

Initialising a DVD-R disk took just over 40 seconds, while a DVD-RW disk took roughly one minute. If you're planning a long shoot, make sure you initialise a set of disks before setting off so you won't miss valuable footage when changing disks – because you can only fit 15 minutes of top-quality video on each disk. Finalising a disk took approximately four minutes.

Conclusion
Although the Canon HR10 delivered excellent video quality and very good stills in our tests, it was slow to use – a problem shared with most DVD camcorders.  The user interface also retained many of the frustrating features we found in our review of the HG10. Compatibility with playback and editing equipment may also be an issue for some potential purchasers. However, the HR10's battery capacity was adequate for our tests and the software bundle is above average.

With this camcorder, Canon has rounded out its consumer high-definition line-up. Potential buyers now have a choice of three models, each using a different media type: the HV20 (tape), HG10 (HDD) and HR10 (DVD). The high optical and image processing qualities of all three camcorders will deliver excellent HD video clips and very good 3-megapixel still photos.

IMATEST GRAPHS

Image sensor: 5.27 x 3.96 mm Progressive HD CMOS sensor with 2.96 million photosites (1994 H x 1484 V)
Sensor Resolution: 2.07MP for HD/DV 16:9 video; 1.55MP for 4:3 video; 2.76MP for 4:3 stills (effective megapixels)
Lens: 6.1-61mm f/1.8-3.0 Canon High Definition Video lens
Zoom ratio: 10x optical, 49x/200x digital for video
Video System: HDV 1080i/DV
Recording Modes: AVCHD (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264: 5/7/9/15 Mbps (variable)
Sound recording: Dolby Digital AC-3 (2ch)
Still Image Sizes/ file format: 2048 x 1536, 1920 x 1080 016:9), 1440 x 1080, 848 x 480 and 640 x 480/ JPEG
Shutter speed range: Disk: 1/6 - 1/2000 sec, Card: 1/2 - 1/500 sec
Image Stabilisation: Super Range Optical Shift system
Focus system/range: TTL AF plus external distance sensor when set to Instant AF; range 1cm (at wide angle) to infinity
Exposure Compensation: +/- 11 levels
Exposure controls: Auto, P, Av, Tv, eight Scene modes, Cine (progressive HDV 25 PF)
Minimum illumination: 0.2 lux (Night Mode); 2.5 lux auto
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent (x2), Backlight
Flash: Built in (Auto/On/Off/Red eye reduction is available)
Video Light: Built in low luminance AF auxiliary video LED light with manual switch
Storage Media: 8cm mini DVD disks (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-R DL); miniSD card for photo recording
Viewfinder: 0.27-inch Real Widescreen Colour EVF (123,000 pixels)
LCD monitor: 2.7-inch Real Widescreen LCD with 211,000 pixels and AR coating
Power supply: BP-214 7.4V DC lithium-ion battery pack; 8.4V DC-in
Dimensions (wxhxd): 65 x 93 x 133 mm
Weight: 530 g (body only)