OK, so HDV looks much better than DV on my 22 ins CRT computer screen. So what? I don't want to watch my videos on a computer screen, and I can't see m2t files as a viable distribution medium.
I am not buying an HD TV myself, until there are some HD broadcasts to watch.
I won't be buying an HDVD or Blu Ray burner till the format wars are sorted out, and the prices drop by at leat 80%.
And I don't know how long it will be until the kind of people I sell DVDs to, will have HD players and TVs at home.

So why I am I so happy with my HV20?
Because it makes absolutely stunning quality standard DVDs.

The picture quality from the HV20 on normal DVD, played back on my Toshiba 32 ins widescreen PAL CRT TV is simply amazing.

I am shooting 25p, capturing with Vegas.
I then render as progressive mpg, using Main Concept codec, at highest quality settings, and burn with DVD architect. Picture quality is fantastic.
And, if, instead of using Vegas, I use TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress, to convert the m2t files to mpg, again using highest quality settings, the picture quality is even better still.

Patrick

Indeed!

I am using my HV20 to output 512k 360x288 res. WMV files.

Overkill ? Yes - but the quality, seperation and low light ability make it worthwhile and having all that data in HDV format means in the future I can remaster to higher res and bandwidth.

i agree, downrezzing from hdv is far better than shooting dv as your'e approaching uncompressed SD video, my problem is after staring at HD vid on my comp the SD stuff looks almost out of focus, but hd dvd players are coming down in price quick enough, as are hdtv's and i'll probably end up with an hdtv and an intensity card hooked straight up to my computer, or an apple tv

here's a 24p dvd i made (download the image, and burn with your fav burn suite)

http://file.meyersproduction.com/hv20/caddo/caddo%203min.img

I totally agree on it Patrick. You should also test Canopus ProCoder 2, it produces high quality footage. Did you try out SVCD?

And indeed, CRT is still better than any TFT, LCD or whatever.