On Sun, 13 Jan 2002 16:54:21 +0800, ABC wrote:

>I am about to buy my first DV Cam and have looking at Canon and Sony.
>I am not after fanciful gimmicks but would pay for quality of the
>picture.
>
>Canon ZR20mc offers about 360000 pixel and Sony PC9 about 700000.
>
>The saleman said that the pixel density only affect the quality of the
>still shots on the memory card. The movie will be just the same
>regardlss fo pixel numbers.

This is not true (though the actual pixel count used for
the video image in the cameras above may not be as
great as it would appear (the PC9 uses a lot for stabilization).

>Futher, the movie quality is about the same on all brands and models.
>They all give about 500 lines.

Uh-h-h-h...., well, this is not true - the **FORMAT**
resolution is about 540 lines, but the *on tape*
resolution can be WELL below 400 lines for the lesser
models (depending on lens, CCD, and electronics
characteristics).

>Is this right? If true , I might as well but a cheaper mini DV Cam and
>then a separate Digital camera (e.g. DSC S75 with 3.3M)

I would recommend this anyway - even the sharpest Mini-DV
that also produces stills produces stills that are barely
acceptable for making small paper prints...

>Any help will be appreciated before I put the money down.

Look at:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder--comparison.htm
to see the differences in the Sony models (though
the stills do not show that the 3-chip images are
noticeably "smoother" with motion...).