On 17 Apr 2002 05:10:47 -0700, pmcgrath.cs@clearstream.com (Paul McGrath) wrote:

>Hi - I have a 'once-in-a-lifetime' holiday planned which is coming up
>pretty soon, and want to be able to 'capture the moments'.
>
>Although I have a pretty good Sony Handycam, and an excellent Minolta
>camera, I want something which gives me most of the options of both in
>one convenient and very small package.
>
>I realise I am asking for a lot, and I realise that certain
>electronics companies are deliberately preventing/or slowing the merge
>of the Digital camera/Digital video camera product lines - but does
>anyone know of a miniDV that can produce good stills also ? Something
>with a CCD greater than 1 MegaPixel ?
>
>I've read reviews about the latest Sony and latest JVC offerings - but
>some of the reviews claim poor still quality at resolutions greater
>than 640x480. I certainly don't want to see interpolation - if I
>decide to pull off a still from the camera to put on my 1024x768
>desktop, and I want to know that printing it out on a decent printer
>with photo-paper will give me good results also (I use a HP
>OfficeJet).
>
>
>Anybody got any info that can help me find the right product ? (Or am
>I asking for something that is not available yet ?)

The latter, I think...;-)
The color noise in the larger-than-640x480 1-CCD
megapixel stills I've seen is rather obvious, even
in good light - though you may find it acceptable
for your purposes for 4x5/5x7 size prints (look
at the TRV30/PC115/PC120...). The 3-CCD TRV950
(not available yet) may solve this (as may have
the 3-CCD high pixel-count Panasonic camcorders,
available now), but "megapixel" CCDs apear to
have a "price": poor low-light performance and
increased picture negative artifacting with
motion. You may be better off with what you have
now...