On Mon, 08 Jan 2001 20:55:10 GMT, anthonymfalcone@my-deja.com wrote:

>I borrowed a Cannon ZR10 and took some video alongside my (older)
>Minolta C518 vhs-c camcorder.
>When I played each back (one immediately after the other on the same
>27" TV), I did not notice a significant increase in video quality with
>the DV over the VHS-C.
>I was hoping for serious improvement in resolution etc... In some
>ways, the vhs-c was better!

There have been several threads recently about just
this...! ;-) Large-chip low-res VHS often can look
better than bottom-end tiny-chip DV, especially in
marginal light levels.

>Cannon states that the ZR10's resolution is 525 lines.
>BUT
>http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/cameras/ZR10review/ZR10_review_page2.html
>prooves that the resolution isn't much better than 350 because of the
>quality of the lens & electronics. Although the DV media can hold
>500+lines, the ZR10 apparently isn't capable of producing.
>
>What is going on? Is there a camcorder out there that doesn't lie
>about its resolution?
>Are there any reviews out there that investigate resolution in a
>similar manner?

"Lie", or "mislead"...? ;-)
The format is capable of over 525 horizontal lines
of resolution (NTSC) at best, but most camcorder
CCDs and lenses aren't up to outputting that (and
mfgrs are none too eager to point that out...;-).
In low light, one-chip DV is also often noisy
and lacking in color due to the high gain needed
to offset the effects of using 1/4" chips and
smaller pixels. For a distinct improvement over
VHS, look at the best one-chip DV camcorders,
or almost any of the 3-chip DV camcorders. BTW,
many of these are reviewed on my web page, at:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder-comparison.htm
About the only Mini-DV camcorder I've seen that
can actually approach the DV resolution limit is
the Sony VX-2000 (I have not checked out the
large JVC GY-DV500, though...), but some others
are enough better than good Hi-8 and SVHS cameras
to be worth having - and the lossless-transfer
and low dropout-rate characteristics of the DV
medium are other advantages.