This a great little camcorder! I did some research before buying my first HV30 (I now have three of them) and it was the top camcorder for HD recording in its class with Consumer's Report. It has everything one needs to produce a great movie, public service announcement, or advertisement. I am planning a new TV show that I will shoot with just three of these.
The picture quality is pristine; however the built in sound mic lacks the ability to cancel out the camcorder noise. I got a Rode's shotgun mic for my first one and was still dissatified. The third camcorder I bought had an attached Canon mic that finally satisfied me.
This little guy uses video tape to record on; which is still the best picture quality of the formats, it has built in headphone and microphone inputs, takes still shots during recording and send them to memory card which downloads via USB. The video information downloads via firewire.
This is the finest camcorder of its size and price range; of course, thats an opinion but having a degree in video engineering enables me to make that assumption (my opinion also)!

I have had this Canon HV 30 HD camera for 6 weeks now and it is everything I expected and more. I mainly use it for shooting family home videos. However, the other reason I wanted this camera was for transferring older analog DV videos to my computer. This camera converts them beautifully so I am now in the process of getting all my older DV videos to my computer. The analog to DV converter is built into the camera so it is seamless. As far as the quality of the HD video is concerned is absolutely beautiful. I plugged the camera in using an HDMI cable into my Samsung 55" TV and it was like watching HD except this was my homemade videos on screen. Unfortunately it also showed every wrinkle..... but that is the price you pay for HD Quality. I have no negative comments as I have had no issues with this camera so far. I am using an iMac computer with Final Cut Express HD software.

The canon hv20 is a great camera for all users. It is easy to use and not too big. It records in standard definition as well as high def.

Small. Excellent videos. MiniDV is still the best solution for our needs. The media is cheap. The resolution is high and editing and video transfer with Macs is seamless.

Havent shot a lot with this camera yet but the little that I have done, I am so impressed by the rich colors this camera produces especially in HDV! Was kinda skeptical in by this small video cam but as a videographer on a budget I am so far surprised by the camera's performance and looking forward to using it a lot more!

I bought the HV30 to shoot my web series. I now have two web series running on YouTube and both were shot with this camera. Go see an example of 'The WiseGuys' at: http://www.youtube.com/user/th​ewiseguystv. I rated this camcorder an excellent because it lives up to all expectations. I'm now looking to buy the Jag35 to be able to do pulled focus.

this camcorder is a professional camcorder, made for home use. more indie film makers prefur the canan vixia camcorders for good reson.

Bought for my son to go off to film school at Full Sail. He loves it. Great investment. He told me that the color in dim lighting is just great. Also able to film at a standard that he is recieving jobs for.

A true HD quality. Easy to used no manual required to get started.
Amazing videos for a reasonably price.
Highly reommended. espacially for Youtubers and Vbloggers.

It is a nice piece of equipment.. Made for an excellent addition to my arsenal.. currently working on the editing of the footage looking forward to its completion and other projects to come.

I've been looking for this camera everywhere and I finally found it here, so I bought it. Excellent camera. I'll be using it often for my photography shoots.

Camera was just what I wanted and it was in great condition. I needed the camera to do some video work. This is a great camera.

Eeverything was in excellent shape, it included everything and the box was in grat condition. great price, fast shipping!

It looked like it was in good condition, and it was. Very well kept. It was almost like buying it brand new.