HDV resolution perplexity

[jusko]

I am a newbie to the video field and is now making my greatest efforts hoping to learn more in this area.

Some one told me that standard HDV resolution is 1440x1080i. Yes I look at the specifications of many HDV cams which really state that effective CCD resolution is 1440x1080. The Canon HDV XLH1, XHA1/G1 are all with CCD 1440x1080 effective. The Sony HC7 HDV is also equipped with a 1440x1080 cmos.

But the output of these HDV cams is 1920x1080i. That means the pixels are not squared but rectangular in shape with an aspect pixel ratio of 1.3333. This also means that the 1920x1080i resolution is upsampled from the recorded 1440x1080 pixels.

But then why the Canon HV10/HV20 or the JVC HD7 all state that they have Full HDV resolution of 1920x1080 ?? Do they in fact also have effective 1440x1080 pixels CCD ?? But these models never mention the CCD effective pixels for video.

Is there really a term FULL HDV referring to 1920x1080 and HDV 1440x1080 ?? Does HV20 really can captured 1920x1080 pixels or just upsampled from 1440x1080 ?

I am looking forward to your expertise answers to my questions please.

Best Regards
jusko

[dmoreno]

I'm not an expert, but an avid forum reader. As I understand the cmos sensor is capable of capturing the whole 1920x1080 square (1:1) pixels and outputting "true" 1080 HD through the HDMI output. This output can be captured to a harddisk in true full resolution and without the mpeg2 compression of HDV via HDMI with a computer and capture cards.
Once the video is recorded to tape, it is downcoverted to 1440x1080 rectangular (1.33:1) pixels according to the HDV standard and compressed using mpeg2. Even if the recorded video is captured via HDMI it will never be true 1920x1080 and the mpeg compression will still show.

[24Peter]

Even if the recorded video is captured via HDMI it will never be true 1920x1080 and the mpeg compression will still show.

I'm not sure that's true.

There's been a lot of discussion on the HDMI out issue here: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=139(search the forum for your question).

As for the full HD v HDV resolution thing, my understanding is the HV20 has a full 1920X1080 sensor and down-rezzes the footage to conform to the HDV standard. But when you play it back on an HDTV via HDMI I believe you get full HD again.

But I'm wondering what your question really is? Technicalities aside, for $900 you're getting a camcorder capable of stunning HD on any HDTV.

[jusko]

Thank you everybody for answering my questions. I now know that the movie captured into the computer will become 1440x1080 with pixel aspect ratio of 1.3333.

Best Regards
jusko