Cinematography: Cameras and Formats: XL H1: An Open Learning Guide

The Canon XL H1 Records to HDV, the high-defition version of the popular DV codec used in many cameras, including the H1's predecessors the Canon XL 1s and XL 2. HDV is a very well engineered codec and allows for optimal HD compression to tape. Although high quality, the HDV compression codec is in fact compressing the video and disregarding some of the pixels that the XL H1's CCDs are picking up. However, the XLH1 does have an exciting option that none of the other prosumer HD cameras have: a pre-compression HD SDI output. This allows for the exact same signal that is being sent to the HDV codec for compression to be outputted to an HD SDI device through a BNC cable on the side of the camera. Though this feature is designed for use in studio environments where the HD SDI signal can be sent to a video deck such as a DVCproHD or HDCAM deck for full-resolution, uncompressed recording it can also be sent to a computer via an HD SDI video card such as those offered by AJA and Blackmagic and then recorded completely digitally onto a hard drive for editing or higher quality compression.

In a studio the HD SDI output and Genlock input would be highly useful. However, for movie making and general recording the HDV tape option is very high quality and much more compact that working with a large video deck or computer system in the field.

This camera is fourth in the line of XL series cameras from Canon, featuring the body style and many features and technologies of the XL 1, XL 1s, and XL 2 cameras.

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Text adapted from Movie Making Manual/Cinematography/Cameras and Formats/XL H1 by Wikibooks contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.