On Tue, 31 Oct 2000 18:18:25 -0500, "Harry C." wrote:

>As a newbie to this NG, I am looking for info on whether the picture quality
>of a *Digital* videocam is better than that of the 4year old Hi8 cam that I
>am considering trading? This cam has been regularly serviced
>
>The salesman tells me that because digital has more lines of resolution, it
>has a far better picture quality than Hi8, and I know we all trust salesmen.
>I had thought that digital, (on still cameras) is gauged on the number of
>pixels for picture quality, and the more pixels, the better quality picture.
>
>A search of 'Deja news' did not help in this case.
>
>I don't mind trading 'up' to digital video if it will give improved quality
>over Hi8, but would like some input please.

The other two posters above make excellent points (Thanks!
I actually learned something from Stephane Albi's post! ;-).
Comparing a digital medium with an analogue one is kinda
like the "apples and oranges" thing, though...;-) The
DV standards are reasonably high (though short of the
best possible...), but absolute. Various camcorders may
(or may not, in the case of most one-chippers) approach
the DV standards limit, but they can never be better than
that limit. With analogue, though some parts of the
standards are lower than DV, if the camcorder is good
enough, images can look as good as (and in some ways better
than) those of most DV camcorders (the Sony TR-700 comes
to mind...;-). When you try to copy and edit, DV does have
the advantage (unless your copying/editing gear is VERY
good - and VERY expensive), and DV is far less prone
to showing dropouts than analogue...
(BTW, all this reminds me of the discussion about LP
records [you know - those big black analogue audio
disks...;-] vs. CDs when they first appeared [ever
so long ago...;-]. A very well-made LP would easily
beat an average CD for audio quality/listenability
[except for "dropouts", otherwise known as "pops and
clicks" ;-] but CDs got better over time... A so-so
DV camcorder shows poor color [especially in low light],
inability to handle large brightness range in a scene,
and lots of artifacting with motion; the best Mini-DV
camcorders are approaching good-quality fairly high-end
analogue gear in their output; the best analogue [and
digital] gear available still beats Mini-DV [at a
price...;-] I ramble......;-)