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Introduction

Not to recently I had the opportunity to evaluate the Samsung SC-MX20 and I concluded that it was an acceptable entry camcorder. It had a reasonable video quality and had a lot of features to allow a budding videographer to develop. When I started my hunt for a digital camcorder, I had one key requirement that had to be met: high definition video capture. There were no ifs or ands about it - I wanted the best. Samsung answered back by sending me the SC-HMX20C. By design, the two camcorders are similar with a noticeable difference in size: the SC-HMX20C is larger than the SC-MX20.

SC-HMX20C High Definition Camcorder

The SC-HMX20 is packaged inside a black box decorated with many pictures of the digital camcorder, one of which is an actual size representation. Apart from the half dozen pictures, there is no information about the camcorder itself. One line tells us that it records in 1920x1080 Full HD but the details end at that.

The package includes a felt carrying pouch, a ten page manual in several languages, two driver/software discs, core filters (three), a USB cable, HD cables and standard audio and

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video cables, a remote control, docking station, battery and charger.

The docking station is a great addition for an HD camcorder. It not only provides quick charging and video downloading, but provides HDMI and AV outputs to your TV.

Pulling the camcorder out of the box the entire surface area is used for one thing or another. Looking at the bottom of the camcorder we can see the cradle connection and tripod mount. We can also see the cover for the DC power plug and hidden in black is the cover for the external microphone. Closer to the lens we have the two internal microphones to pick up all the sound during recording. The two speakers are offset from the center by about 15 degrees. On the right side of the camcorder we have the handle and a thin strip for tightening onto your hand. Much like previous Samsung camcorders, the handle can rotate. The SC-HMX20C is limited to 135 degrees while the SC-MX20 which offers 180 degree rotation. In the photo below we can see it rotated only a few degrees and then to the maximum.

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On the back of the camcorder, we have the cover for the memory and battery compartment. To the right of the battery compartment we have the record button indicated by the universal red dot, the power button and a small LED indicating that the camcorder is charging. Just below the charge LED is the external microphone connection I referred to earlier. Above the battery and memory compartment we have the "mode" button to switch between video recording, taking pictures and previewing your work. Continuing along the top we have a small indentation along the body for you to rest your fingers.

On the last side we have the screen which can be rotated 360 degrees for your viewing pleasure.

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The inside of the screen comes with a separate zoom and record button. There's also a key (QMenu) to load up the menu. On the inside portion of the body we have additional USB and video connections, the speaker, EASY Q, flash and iCheck. EASY Q basically sets the camcorder on Auto mode. The camcorder processor will select which modes to use. EASY Q will also automatically turn on the Anti-Shake option. The flash button toggles between auto, red-eye, fill, slow sync or off and only works when operating in the Photo mode. The iCheck switches between full or minimal on-screen display information. When enabled, you can see the recording time, total recording time available, battery life, recording settings and have quick links to preview and settings.

Turning our attention to the front, the HD Lens takes up most of the area. The lens offers a focal range of 6.3 to 63mm and an aperature range of F1.8 to 2.5 with a 49mm lens diameter. There is 10x optical zoom and 100x digital.

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All things considered, the camcorder is not that big. I found with my index finger on the zoom key and thumb on the battery and storage memory compartment and the unit felt pretty comfortable and stable in my hand. With the handle rotated 90 degrees my thumb rested on the zoom key and with my index finger extended across the body, I was able to point the camera around without creating a shaky image.

Features & SpecificationLet's take a look at some of the features and specifications taken directly from Samsung's website.

We'll start with some features:

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Dimensions:

One question that always comes up is how long of a video can this camcorder record or how many pictures can I take? One of the benefits with the SC-HMX20C is that it comes with an internal 8GB storage. If you install your own 8GB SDHC, you've just doubled the capacity giving you a total storage space of 16GB. At the highest resolution (3264x2448), you can take almost 6000 photos or record 142 minutes of 1080/30p or 1080/60i.

Setup & Software Installation

Ease of use is always important for consumer electronics. The physical design doesn't get any easier. All the compartments open up easily to install the battery, flash card or external accessories. The only thing really missing is a hot-shoe for an external flash or light source.

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Once you've powered on the camcorder, you can cycle through the setting pages with the touch screen. Here are some of your options:

QMenu

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Settings

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Video

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Photo

Popping in the provided CD, one of them contains the complete manual and the other contains a CyberLink DVD Suite which contains PowerDVD, PowerProducer and PowerDirector. After a quick installation, the suite lets you create favourite videos, play movies, create data CDs/DVDs, music CDs/DVDs, make movies, copy & backup files.

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Not spending too much time exploring the software suite, the one option that interests me the most is editing your videos. That particular piece of software looks and works fairly similar to Windows Movie Maker.

Unlike the Cyberlink Media Show, there is no quick upload to YouTube and the editing suite doesn't crop videos or adjust any of the colors, contrast and brightness levels. I'm left feeling a little empty with the software suite.

Video & Picture Performance

The SC-HMX20C has a 1/1.8" CMOS sensor capable of recording 6.4M pixels and still images can be captured up to an interpolated 8M pixels (3264x2448). I was actually quite surprised how well the quality of the pictures turned out when shooting images of my TV. Everything comes out quite clear and there is only the slightest hint of barrel distortion on the lens. There is no macro-mode for the camera and as a matter of fact, you don't have nearly as many options available to you as a standard point and shoot but the SC-HMX20 does the basic trick just like how a P&S can capture some videos.

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The following three pictures were taken with various zoom levels. The first has the widest angle, the second is half zoomed in and the third is fully zoomed in. The built-in flash was disabled for all three pictures but the remaining settings were left to auto.

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The built-in flash has a range of 7 to 10 feet which is acceptable but a hot-shoe for an external light source would have been really nice.

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Capturing videos will be the primary purpose of this camera. I've recorded the same scene from The Mummy at different resolutions. All the settings were left at the default state with the exception of WindCut. I had enabled this option to cut out some of the be background noise. Unforunately, YouTube does not permit 1080i/p playback so they have compressed the resolution down to 720. The highest resolution, 1920x1080/30p, file can be downloaded directly from our servers if you would like to see what the uncompressed video looks like. The file is 27MB.

HD 1920x1080/30p

HD 1920x1080/60i - HD Super Fine

SD 720x480/60p - SD Normal

The Slow Motion option is a new mode that allows you to record regular movie images as a slow motion. Samsung claims it is ideal for analyzing golf swings or viewing birds in flight. A recording will automatically stop after 10 seconds and plays back at 50 seconds.

SD 448x336/60p - Slow Motion

I took a screen show of all the images at approximately the same time. The 30p was a significant improvement over the 60i. There is less noise around the heads of people. What surprised me was the 720x480. My screenshot was 1:1 and it proved to be 853x480, making the capture very wide screen. The slow motion capture is definitely handy for improving my golf swing but the resolution is ridiculously small, almost to the point of being unwatchable when exploded on my 1920x1080 monitor.

From Left to Right: 1920x1080 @ 30P | 1920x1080 @ 60I | 720x480 @ 60P | 448x336 Slow Motion

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You can capture photos while recording a video or in the standby mode by simply pressing the photo button on the body of the camcorder. Alternatively, you can use the provided remote control. I must admit, this is a pretty cool feature but only really useful if you have the camcorder mounted to a tripod. Otherwise you're going to be holding it and will have easy access to the buttons. The remote control lets you navigate through all the options as if you were holding on to the camcorder. The only thing you cannot do is switch between modes. I think this is a pretty big fault and it means you need to walk back to the camcorder to change from video recording to photo shooting to editing and previewing. I also can't seem to modify the flash settings in photo mode when using the remote control. However, I'm pleased by the overall ease of use and quick response by the remote.

Despite the Cyberlink software suite lacking any video editing, the video edit menu allows you to divide a single video up into different segments, delete unwanted videos and combine videos together. You won't be able to adjust colors, audio or crop as you'd be able to in a true editing suite. To divide a video you need to touch the menu and navigate to Edit & Divide. Select the video and navigate to the desired point of splitting along the progress bar. Once you're at the desired point, touch the divide button and the video will be split into two files. To delete a portion of the video, need to select the start and end points along the progress bar of what you would like deleted and confirm your choice. To combined segments of video together, you select the order of which you'd like the files to be joined, confirm your selection and the software will do the rest. I'm pretty impressed with how easy the editing is on the camcorder.

Conclusion

So where do we stand with the Samsung SC-HMX20C? Given that it is priced well under 1K, almost 600 used, it makes for an affordable high definition camera. In good lighting, the camcorder excels at capturing the moment but it falls behind in low light conditions. The definition between two objects starts to get grainy and we lose out on what we would expect to be picture perfect video. Two key features missing from the SC-HMX20C which I hope to see in the future HD camera is a 50mm lens option and slow motion capture in high definition. The standard 63mm lens forces you to step back to capture the picture whereas a 50mm lens would capture what you would see by eye. The slow motion 10 second recording played back in 50 seconds is great, but being limited to 4:3 hinders your ability to make cool cut scenes or transitions when the rest of your video is 16:9.

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There are many positives with this camcorder. The built in camera allows for great high resolution photos when you want a still image instead of a video. The remote control is handy if you plan on filming something at a distance, perhaps a science experiment where you really don't want to get too close. There were many times during my school years where that would have been advantageous. Overall, the SC-HMX20C is a great, small high definition camera to carry around if you're on the go and looking to capture videos of life. The software is incredibly easy to use and detailed in its abilities. With 8GB of built in flash memory, you don't necessarily need a flash card before your battery dies out.

Advantages

1920x1080 recording Simple to use camcorder software Remote control is great add-on 8GB internal memory in additional to flash Compact size and comfortable fit Touchscreen interface for easy navigation

Disadvantages

Packaged software feels incomplete Remote control does not allow you to switch between video, photo and preview mode Slow motion recording has limited resolution

I would like to thank Samsung for making this review possible.

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