Camera Labs

One of the main reasons for the purchase from my Sony HX1 and HX5 was the full HD video.

After experimenting for some time and testing different settings I come to the conclusion that everything above 720p is humbug and does not give you actually noticeable more resolution.

See my blogs for more in depth testing if you like.

Checking out http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ and their professional take on testing resolution it looks like that the resolution of nearly all Full HD video and full HD cameras is below the 750 lines horizontal and vertical.

So for me it looks like the full HD resolution is just an interpolation of 720p to fill a container twice the size.

Any information you can share to clear that up for me is greatly appreciated.

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http://hx9v.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately the manufacturers wouldn't reveal this kind of information, so it's up to owners or users to do some tests and see what they find.

In my HX5 review I didn't compare the 720 and 1080 modes, BUT I did include a comparison between the 1080 mode on the HX5 and 720p mode on the TZ10 / ZS7 and the Sony certainly resolved finer detail.

Gordon, comparing the top HD camcorders as seen on camcorderinfo.com

best so far:
Panasonic HDC-TM700 horizontal sharpness 1000 lw/ph, vertical sharpness 900 lw/ph. The impressive vertical sharpness is what stands out here, as no other consumer camcorder we've tested has been able to crack the 600 – 700 lw/ph barrier.
Sony HDR-CX550V horizontal 800 lw/ph, vertical 650 lw/ph

digi cams
Canon 5D Mark II h=700 lw/ph v=650 lw/ph 1080
Canon 7D h=575 lw/ph v=700 lw/ph 1080
Panasonic GH1 h=750 lw/ph v=650 lw/ph 1080
Nikon D5000 h=575 lw/ph v=625 lw/ph 1080
Sony Alpha SLT-A55 h=700 lw/ph v=725 lw/ph 1080
Sony NEX-5 h=700 lw/ph v=650 lw/ph 1080

pocket camcorders
Panasonic HM-TA1 h=700 lw/ph v=650 lw/ph 1080
Kodak Zi8 h=600 lw/ph v=500 lw/ph 1080
Flip UltraHD h=600 lw/ph v=600 lw/ph only 720p

so just from comparing this numbers except for the Panasonic HDC-TM700 there seems to me no sens in recording anything above 720p and the blueray format what is still a bother to edit.

I tried a lot of different setting and for now I think 720p in mp4 is the best in sharpness, file size and convenience to edit.

If anybody is interested I collected all my findings in a blog
VIdeo COdecs aNd COmpressions
http://viconco.blogspot.com/

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http://hx9v.blogspot.com/

Yes, but what were the results in the same tests with 720p. The 1080p modes may still out-resolve them, even if they don't deliver what you hoped for.

as far as I know they did not do that test, sadly

also if I understand resolution right, prime lenses are in the 2000 + pixel resolution while standard lenses are mostly below the 2000 pixel resolution.
so is then a 16 mp sensor with a 2200 pixel resolution lens not a big interpolating joke?
or do I understand something wrong?

I think we had a kind of this discussion a couple years ago, Gordon, when I asked you why I could not make out too much difference in your crops regarding resolution between a p&s and a semi pro camera.

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http://hx9v.blogspot.com/