Canon Legria HF20

Playback (6.5)

The HF20's playback mode is fairly standard. Pressing the playback button brings up a series of thumbnails that represent your images. Moving the joystick around lets you select and play your clips, while pressing the zoom toggle adjusts how many thumbnails are present on the screen. Your basic VCR controls are also located beneath the LCD (play/pause and stop), but to access other controls, like fast forward, rewind, and volume, you must use the navigation joystick. Using the joystick to control playback isn't good design and we wish Canon had implemented more dedicated VCR control buttons on the camcorder.

The video playback screen

The HF20 has various organization systems that allow you to group videos based on a number of criteria. You can organize by date, create video playlists, and even index clips based on what faces appear in the footage (if you used face detection during recording).

The full screen video playback menu		The full screen still playback menu

The playback function menu in video mode		The playback function menu in still mode

Connectivity (6.88)

For a compact camcorder, the HF20 has a lot of connectivity options, although some of the ports are inadequately placed. On the back of the camcorder, to the left of the battery pack, are the microphone jack, component-out, and DC-input. Each port is protected well by plastic, tethered coverings, but the covers don't do the best job of getting out of the way. If you have a lot of cables connected to the HF20, things begin to feel somewhat cluttered.

The mic jack (top) and component-out		The DC-input port

Making your way around to the right side of the camcorder, you'll find the USB and HDMI ports just around the corner from the battery pack. These ports are also well protected by a covering, but their positioning is terrible. The ports live exactly where your palm rests when you grip the camcorder, which means it is a very uncomfortable experience if you want to hold the HF20 while it is connected to a television or computer (although, this probably isn't something that will come up too often). Canon offers a similar uncomfortable port placement on the HF S100.

The AV-out port doubles as the headphone jack		The SD/SDHC card slot

Inside the LCD cavity you'll find the AV-output, which also doubles as the headphone jack. You must go through the camcorder's menu to switch the functionality of the port. To the left of the AV port is the camcorder's SD/SDHC card slot. The memory card slot is protected by a flip-down hatch that works quite well and feels sturdy.

The USB port (left) and HDMI output (right)		The hot accessory shoe only works with Canon products.

The HF20 also has a hot accessory shoe on the top of the camcorder. The shoe uses Canon's 'mini advanced' proprietary design, which means it is only compatible with Canon's own accessories and won't work with regular equipment.