Mike Curtis of HDForIndies, Adam Wilt of DV Magazine, and Chris Hurd of DVInfo.net, among many others, have teamed up for what they have dubbed “The Texas HD Shootout.” They are taking six of the more recent and popular HD camcorders and running a battery of tests over a week-long period of time. I’ve been following Mike’s daily commentary, and the results are not for the faint-hearted. Unfortunately, no one camcorder won out over all the rest, but, rather, each had its own pros and cons.
Looks like so far the Panasonic HVX200 has been a winner in the color department, whereas Canon’s XL-H1 HDV codec really takes the cake. JVC has a little bit of everything, but could be better. However, all of this barely touches the surface and is very preliminary because there is so much more to test and objectively study. The posts at HD For Indies are very long, but chock full of tidbits that will stimulate those of you who are in the market. I can’t wait to see some final results.
The five camcorders being tested are:
Canon XL H1
JVC GY-HD100U
Panasonic HVX200
Panasonic Varicam
Sony F350
Sony HVR-Z1U
More is to come, so click the link and bookmark this for sure.
