Now that you know how much better high-definition video is than your DVDs, you must be thinking your home movies are starting to look pretty low-res, too. This spring might be a good time to upgrade to an HD camcorder, when Canon's second-generation consumer model hits the streets. The HV20 sports a few new features that its predecessor, the HV10, didn't have — including a 24-fps Cinema Mode to capture the look of film and an HDMI output for connecting to an HDTV — but the best improvement is probably the price. At $1,099, it's $200 cheaper than what the HV10 debuted at, plus you get an even sleeker form factor. You can almost overlook the fact that it records those state-of-the-art full-HD images to the archaic medium of MiniDV tapes.

Canon's news, as well as Sony's and JVC's HD-cam announcements at CES, means there will be plenty to choose from in the HD-cam arena come spring — as long as you don't mind spending at least a grand for the privelege of shooting super-sharp footage. Have a look at another picture of the HV20 (showing the controls) after the jump. — Peter Pachal

Canon, via CrunchGear