Sorry if this is a dumb question. I did search for over half an hour
for the answer but the search results are flooding with the opposite
question.

I just bought a digital camera (DSC-H2) that can capture mpeg movies. I
have a 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo card which means I can capture about an
hour and a half of MPEG video at 640x480 30FPS resolution. How would
the video quality of this camera compare to a digital camcorder? For
instance, say an JVC Everio GZMG21US or a Sony DCR-DVD30 Handycam? I
was just going to buy a digital camera and camcorder but I'm no longer
sure if I need both. Everyone seems to ask the opposite question, which
is how a digital camcorder's still capture compares to a digital
camera. That answer is obvious (the camera has much higher resolution)
but it's not clear to me about the video from a camera. One benefit
that a video camera has is it is usually set up to record for longer.
But I am more interested in knowing about the video quality. Some
people mentioned elsewhere that camcorders record decently in a wider
range of light levels. Some other people also said that the camcorder's
optics are specially designed for video (whatever that actually means).
Your input?

Any help would be much appreciated,
Jason

jason.lee.qu***@gmail.com wrote:

One way of assessing the (potential) image quality is comparing the
bandwidth of the recording formats. DV camcorders record 25 megabits per
second (about three megabytes per second.) You can find out the
bandwidth of your MPEG clips by recording a longish clip and dividing
its size (in megabytes) by the length of the clip in seconds. (The
bandwidth, in this case, affects on how easily you will see blocky
mosaic artefacts in the picture when there's lots of motion or complex,
highly detailed scenes.)

You can also compare the resolution. NTSC DV camcorders record 720×480
pixels per frame. The resolution of the clips your digital still camera
produces is 11% less in the horizontal direction (in terms of the
storage format.)

Another difference can be found in the scanning format. Movie clips
recorded by digital still cameras are - to my knowledge, without
exception - progressive. Movie clips recorded with a video camera are
typically interlaced, although there are video cameras that can be set
in progressive mode. Interlaced scanning will give you a 60 Hz temporal
resolution even though the storage format is only 30 fps. Sports, for
example, are better shot in a 60 fields-per-second interlaced mode than
a 30 frames-per-second progressive mode since the motion will look a lot
smoother when it updates 60 times per second. Faster temporal rate will
also give you smoother pans and zooms. Motion recorded using a real
video camera will typically appear smoother on a tv screen because of
interlacing.

Camcorders typically have electronic or optical image stabilization.
Some digital still cameras, too, have image stabilization, but I'm not
sure if it applies to movie clips, and it can only be found on the more
expensive models. Because of image stabilization, video shot with a
modern camcorder will usually appear less shaky than video shot with a
digital still camera, unless you're using a tripod.

Unless you have switched it in manual mode, a video camera automatically
adjusts exposure, focus, and white balance, smoothly over the time. Some
still cameras only adjust these settings once (at the beginning of the
recording). Some others adjust them all the time during the recording,
but with coarse, visible steps.

Video cameras do not have restrictions about zooming while shooting, and
have multiple (variable) zoom rates, depending on how far you push the
zoom lever. (This means you can start and stop your zooms very
smoothly.)Some still cameras do not let you zoom when shooting movie
clips, or only restrict you to digital zoom during that time. Still
cameras do not usually have variable zoom rates, or if they do, there
are fewer of them than in video cameras.

There are probably more differences, but those just off the top of my
head. That's not to say you couldn't shoot fairly decent video clips
with modern still cameras - under ideal conditions, at least - but video
cameras are still generally better designed for shooting video than
still cameras are.

<jason.lee.qu***@gmail.com> wrote in message
That's easy -- it will be very, very poor compared to a decent digital
camcorder.  A reasonable miniDV camcorder captures at 25 mbs.  A DVD
camcorder (which will produce inferior video to a miniDV camcorder) captures
mpeg2 at a maximum of 10 mbs.  To cram 90 minutes of video onto a 2GB memory
stick, you're probably capturing in the range of 2-3 mbs, 1/10th the
bandwidth of a miniDV camcorder.  Add to that the fact that still camcorder
sensors are optimized for still photography, i.e. short exposures with a
long refresh rate, whereas camcorders are optimized for moving photography,
i.e. relatively long exposures at a rapid refresh rate, and your going to
wind up with pretty poor quality video.


Good camcorders can record in a wide range of light levels.  Cheap
camcorders will not record well in lowlight.


Show quoteHide quote

Thanks for the replies. Very much appriciated. I asked some sales
people behind the counter at an ABC warehouse and a Target and they had
no idea.

To be precise, my Sony DSC-H2 camera records in MPEG Movie Mode at two
settings "Fine (640 X 480, 30 fps with Audio) and Standard (640 X 480,
16.6 fps with Audio)".

The JVC Everio specs say it records at "Average 8.5Mbps, 720x480/60i in
ULTRA mode", which has better resolution than my camera. Combining the
resolution with the interlacing probably does make a much better
picture.

I'm also considering a Sony DVD405 digital camcorder. I haven't been
able to find the useful info online yet.

Jason

<jason.lee.qu***@gmail.com> wrote in message
Salespeople at mass market stores are probably the worst source for
technical information.

mpeg is a lossy compression codec.  Though, in theory, mpeg is capable of
very high quality compression, the kind of compromises necessary to fit
video of any length on a 2 gigabyte memory guarantee video of the lowest
quality.  What you've recited above is merely the frame size and frame rate
and says nothing about video quality.  NTSC video (which is the standard in
the US) has a frame rate of 29.97 fps (which, for all intents and purposes,
is 30 fps).  640 x 480 is the frame size.  The standard for NTSC digital
video is 720 x 480.

8.5 mbs for video is, roughly, the data rate for DVD quality mpeg2.  That is
not, however, the end of the story.  Because mpeg uses temporal compression,
i.e. preceeding and subsequent frames determine how any given frame is
compressed, the highest quality mpeg video can only be achieved through
multiple analysis passes.  This cannot be done in real time.  Accordingly,
the Everio that you're referencing will produce sub-DVD-quality video.  This
might be good enough for the casual user, but it is not as good as even a
medium-quality miniDV camcorder can produce.

Show quoteHide quote

jason.lee.qu***@gmail.com wrote:

Interlace is a bit controversial subject these days. On one hand, it is
the traditional way how video has been shot for the last 50...60 years
(or so), and makes the motion twice as smooth as using the same
bandwidth with the same spatial resolution for relaying progressive
pictures. On the other hand, it can only be considered a "native" and
natural format for CRT-based 50 Hz or 60 Hz scanning display devices.
LCD screens, plasma screens, the forthcoming SED and OLED screens, and
even double-scanning 100 Hz CRT-based tv sets need special algorithms
and logic for processing interlaced signals, and the result is not
always pretty.

These problems can be done away with by using progressive 50p or 60p
display formats, but even HDTV has the interlaced variants still looming
about. And progressive signals shot at the same temporal rate need twice
the bandwidth, anyway, which is a price not all broadcasters are willing
to pay. The jury is still out on what will be the most popular HD
production format in the future, but 25p/30p/50i/60i are all compromises
when compared to 50p/60p.

Anyhow, that doesn't matter right now, since the consumer choices can be
basically boiled down to DV, DVD/MPEG-2, or HDV - at this moment. If you
shoot in SDTV resolutions, you're usually shooting in an interlaced
format. Or that's the default, at least.

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