On Sat, 23 Sep 2000 00:30:04 -0000, Zsolt wrote:

>How do I get the most of the theoretically possible 500-something line
>resolution of a DV/D8 camcorder on the TV screen? As far as I know the
>commonly used composite SCART input of a TV can only handle 240 lines,
>while an SVHS input handles 400-something lines. Is there any difference
>between viewing a VHS source and a DV/D8 source via the SCART input? Not
>to mention copying the DV/D8 tape to VHS...

While Mini-DV and D8 (and other formats) use the same
digital format (with the same 500+ limit), the camera
"front end" (lens + sensor + electronics) can vary
considerably, with D8 at the bottom of the pile,
Mini-DV next (with 3-chip Mini-DV at the top of
this layer ;-), and DVCam, etc. likely at the top
of the pile. For a given input type, you will see
differences (on a good TV) with the different input
quality from the different camera types. For a
given input quality, you will also generally see
differences between composite and component input
types (better color resolution and less "beading"
on reverse-color edges with component). Same with
copying to the lowly VHS tape: a better-quality
source and transfer method will generally give a
better copy on VHS, even though its "limit" is
240 horizontal lines. (Most VHS decks, though, do
not have a real component input, though...)