I purchased the HV20 a few years back when it first came out, and it was a fantastic camera, with a few small shortcomings mostly to do with the HDV format falling behind technological advancements, i.e. 24p buried in a 60i wrapper (which made the 24p a pain to retrieve) was the biggest gripe, as well as having to take the time to transfer video from the camera to my computer. Wasn't a big fan of the silver color, either, but that's minor at best. The hotshoe cover was removable and not captive and was easy to lose (by the time I sold the HV20 I had to dig through my house to find that cover).

Thankfully, the HV40 has fixed the issue with 24p. Now you can capture at 24p without any real issues (works perfectly with Sony Vegas on PC, haven't tried it with any mac software yet). Nice black camera looks a little more professional, and even the hotshoe cover is permanently attached to the camera... However, it's painfully annoying because it just gets in the way when mounting a shotgun microphone! Yes, I broke it off and it's now sitting in a drawer again. A sliding cover like on the HFS10 would be a better solution overall. Obviously, you're still looking at transferring the video in real time via firewire. If there's a faster way to do this, I haven't found it yet.

The things that stand out most to me:
- Picture quality is, as expected, excellent.
- Menu system has never been great on the HV series but it's usable once you get used to it.
- Location of the Instant AF sensor --or whatever it is-- to the side of the lens, outside of the filter rings means it's easy to block with many lens accessories, which makes IAF work poorly at times.
- HDV Tape vs. Flash... Flash based camcorders are easier to deal with in post, but DV tapes can be bought just about anywhere, making tape-based cameras great for vacations or long shooting sessions.
- Battery life is sufficient, you can fill an entire hour tape on a single charge, plus some extra. Aftermarket batteries are easy to find and CHEAP, and don't nag like HFS10 batteries.
- VIEWFINDER! An actual, honest-to-goodness LCD viewfinder, which is often easier to shoot through than the flip-out LCD.

Overall, a solid update to the HV line, at a decent price. You can't go wrong with this camera, though depending on your needs, there might be something better for you out there, like the HFS10/100. 4/5Get more detail about Canon VIXIA HV40 HD HDV Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom.