On 2 Apr 2003 01:45:29 -0800, erez@axismobile.com (erez) wrote:

>I have recently bought a MiniDV (TRV50). The camcorder spec says the

>resolution of the CCD is 970k pixels (for video). However, when I am

>capturing it (via firewire) the image resolution is 720x480 (the DV

>format) which equals to 345.6k pixels. How can I capture still images

>(for the MiniDV video) in a higher resolution? If DV format is only

>720x480 what happens to the rest of the pixels?

This has been covered often......

The CCD pixel-count is not "mapped" 1:1 to the

pixel count of the DV-video, which is 720x480

(NTSC), but the higher pixel count does aid

in achieving a sharper picture at this lower

resolution (call it "interpolating down", if

you want...). For stills, the higher pixel count

is useful for making acceptable-size paper prints

from Memory-Stick captures, which are capable of

this, unlike the tape-format used for motion

(though you will find that the image quality

of the larger still images is lower than stills

made at 640x480 to the Memory Stick - they are

noisy, unlike the smaller ones [and they are

also too small to print for most purposes - but

are good for web use...]). A video camera is NOT

a good still camera (except for web use...).

BTW, if you do capture at the higher resolution

to MS and insert these images into a video, they

will become 720x480 images... Better (if

applicable), is to select a good frame from the

motion-video (likely one with little motion),

and export/import it as a BMP for use in the

video...