On Sat, 4 Aug 2001 15:37:36 +0200, "Jacques Ciana" wrote:

>Providing that many of us is going to watch videos at the best on a regular
>TV set, most of the time after translating it on VHS or SVHS tape, does it
>make sense to further increase the resolution of camcorders. Today DV sets
>deliver above 500 lines, would 1000 lines unit give a better picture on my
>TV taking into account that compression on the DV tape will occur and losses
>in the transfer either to the TV set or worst to VHS tape cannot be avoided.
>
>If the same scope is acting as Still camera , ok I agree that the higher
>resolution is the better but for video I have some doubts.
>
> I would appreciate if one expert on this matter could give his point of
>view to enlighten my knowledge.

You can see the answer to your question on your own TV...;-)
If you look at a mix of direct-broadcast of high-quality
film (movies, or ads) and compare them with filmed TV
programs, videoed TV programs, and with VHS samples
sometimes seen in newscasts or "home-video"-type programs,
you will see that improving the quality of the source
material does improve the quality of the final viewed image,
almost regardless of the limitations of the final
image-viewing medium or device. Try recording a mix
of these to the lowest-quality medium (VHS in extended-play
mode), and you will still see differences in quality, though
they will be closer than if viewed on the best-quality TV.
Resolutions among interactive media are limited by the
lowest, but are not determined by the lowest-quality link -
and will always be lower than the best the lowest-quality
link's theoretical potential resolution is... In still
photography, it is akin to shooting a 100-line lens and
a 400-line lens on an 80-line film - the resulting
resolution will always be lower than 80 lines, but the
400-line lens resolution on film will always be higher
than the 100-line lens on this (or any) film, so improving
the lens resolution is worthwhile even when the intended
film-type is low-resolution... (or, *roughly*:
1/100 + 1/80 = 1/x and 1/400 + 1/80 = 1/y, or for the
100-line lens on 80-line film, x = 67 lines, and for
the 400-line lens on 80-line film, y = 44 lines, which
is considerably less...). I suspect a similar formula
describes source and final resolutions in video, though
the particulars may be a bit different.