Ok I did a couple of tests to see if the motion blur was really caused by the mpeg compression. Since the HDR-FX1 will have no compression via the component outputs there should be no visible motion blurring when panning or during an action scene. And DV mode doesn't use mpeg compression so there should not be any as well. Right?

Well I found that this is true. When I panned quickly in HDV mode with a Component output to a Sony triton studio monitor I saw no visible motion blur. And in none in DV mode as well. is that because there is no encoding going on there or is it because the monitor is a SD monitor and a HD monitor would show the motion blur?

Also When I captured the footage via Firewire in HDV mode there was motion blur. So are my finding correct or do I need to get my head examined. If this is the case than this camera would perform a whole lot better than others may have thought. Just capture via components with a HD SDI card!!!

Settings were:

1080/60i
2.0f
1/60th
Shutter no gain

Hey Joel, I've been trying to keep track of all this stuff. It's hard because everyone is saying this and that, but let me get this clear...you record to take it's compressed MPEG-2. If you run out of the componet output and you get uncompressed video? But, you need a HD SDI card?

What card are you using? You on a Mac??

Just capture via components with a HD SDI card!!!
What you're finding is likely true, however "just capture via component into an HD SDI card" would only be a practical solution for a studio setting. Recording in the field may prove to be much more difficult, and would likely still be done to HDV tape.

You can't record to HDV tape, and then capture that footage via component, and still avoid the compression artifacts. But if you can arrange to record directly through analog component to a hard disk (or DVCPRO-HD or HDCAM) recorder, yes you should have quite an improvement in quality when it comes to mpeg-2 compression artifacts!

The film I'm trying to shoot is in basically one room, what do you think it would cost to rig this capture system up?