XL2 side-by-side GL2 at DVinfo.net

Pete Bauer · September 25th, 2004, 05:07 PM

I did a quick side-by-side with my "old" GL2 and sparkly new XL2 in 16:9, 30p that I thought might be of some interest to the community. If so:

http://www.geosynchrony.com/scratchpad.htm

One favor, though...please "Right Click...Save As..." so you're only tapping my server once for the 16MB WM9 file. That'll help me tremendously to keep the bandwidth under control. Thanks.

Mike Hardcastle · September 25th, 2004, 06:09 PM

Great footage test pete, all these clips being posted are really making me lean to the XL2 as an upgrade to my XM2 (GL2)....

Barry Goyette · September 25th, 2004, 06:46 PM

Pete

Great comparison...I think this shows what most of us have been experiencing with the camera. I think your uprezzing the footage to 720p is interesting as well...one of the things you notice is the lack of aliasing, compared to the Gl2 image..the lack of stairsteps is one of the things that lets it blow up to HD size and still look good. I just tried it with some of my clips, and I was really surprised how good it holds up.

Barry

Cosmin Rotaru · September 28th, 2004, 09:38 AM

Pete, the XL2 footage looks great!

But I'd like to some comparision where I can tell how great the XL2 is over the GL2. Not how bad GL2 is compared to XL2... because the GL2 footage looks kinda funny... I have the XM2 (PAL version of GL2) and I think it can do more then what you're showing. Is the "sharpness" turned all way UP on that camera?!

I'd like to upgrade from XM2 to XL2. But this test is NOT helping me decide....

Jim Giberti · September 28th, 2004, 10:33 AM

Pete...nice site....thanks for the recruiting MP3. <g>.

Alfredo Castil · September 29th, 2004, 12:28 PM

Amazing!

It is so surprising how the xl2 looks uprezzed to HD. If there were any doubts about me getting the xl2, they are gone.

Thanks a lot!

Aaron Shaw · September 29th, 2004, 03:56 PM

wow, was this uprezzed to 720p?

Pete Bauer · September 30th, 2004, 04:49 AM

Thanks for the comments, folks.

Cosmin,

Both cameras used the factory default for colors, sharpness, etc -- EXCEPT I had been playing with the XL2's skin tone feature and I'm not sure if I had remembered to turn that off before doing this little demo. Regardless, in 16:9 (but perhaps not in 4:3?) the XL2 unquestionably has higher resolution, as one would expect. It may be that your PAL XM2 looks better than my NTSC GL2 clip; PAL has more lines and a different chroma scheme (4:2:0 vs 4:1:1) that may give a little different look than NTSC.

As far as your decision to buy a new camera...it really depends what you want out of a camera. Although far from encyclopedic, several of us shared a few thoughts in another thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=32268

When I have more time, I'll add another frame grab or two to my web site (probably NOT today). I'll double check and report all pertinent settings.

Alfredo and Aaron,

Yes, 720p. I captured both cameras' clips into PPro 1.5, trimmed them down, added the titles, and exported using PPro's Adobe Media Encoder WM9 720p setting.

I was simply attempting to minimize visible transcoding artifacts so that the actual differences in the two cameras' images would not be masked by the transcoding and additional compression. But I guess this also shows that for those of us looking forward to the day when HDTV will be ubiquitous, our (up-rezzed) XL2 footage will still look ok on the Home Big Screen.

Ciao for now,

Cosmin Rotaru · September 30th, 2004, 07:10 AM

Pete, thank you for your explanations!
I'm not going to upgrade this year. (financial issues!) So, I have plenty of time to read user opinions and decide!

Thanks for the other link also!

Michael OKeefe · March 22nd, 2005, 02:58 PM

Hey Pete,

Thanks for the footage!

I only have one question: is the Xl2 footage supposed to freeze in the middle of the movie, or is that just me?

Armando Ferreira · March 22nd, 2005, 04:01 PM

Excellent Thread!! just what I was looking for! :THUMBS UP:

Pete Bauer · March 22nd, 2005, 08:56 PM

Michael,
The cameras were actually side-by-side recording at the same time, but their clips are played in the file sequentially, XL2 first, then GL2. There's an apparent "jump" as the footage switches from the end of the XL2 clip to the beginning of GL2 clip, but I just checked and it played through fine for me directly off the web site.

All,
Glad some of y'all are finding these little studies useful. While my wife and daughter are out of town the next 5 days, I'll be a "Class B" bachelor so I think I'll have time to do some more mini-tests that are on my video To Do List.

Chris Hurd · March 22nd, 2005, 09:05 PM

Well done, Pete! Let me know if you need hosting assistance with that 16mb file; I'd be happy to upload it if it'll take the strain off of your server. Much appreciated,

Michael OKeefe · March 23rd, 2005, 04:30 PM

I think it might just be my slow computer then, as it is pausing (video only, audio is fine) during the XL2 part of the video.

Matthew Nayman · March 24th, 2005, 06:54 AM

Wow, as an owner fo the GL2 and hopefulyl FUTURE XL2 owner, this was a useful clip. I was actually amazed to see that there is such a difference in the two pictures. I think you just made Canon another $6000 from me!

September 25th, 2004, 05:07 PM	#1
Pete Bauer Wrangler Join Date: May 2003 Location: Eagle River, AK Posts: 4,100	XL2 side-by-side GL2 I did a quick side-by-side with my "old" GL2 and sparkly new XL2 in 16:9, 30p that I thought might be of some interest to the community. If so: http://www.geosynchrony.com/scratchpad.htm One favor, though...please "Right Click...Save As..." so you're only tapping my server once for the 16MB WM9 file. That'll help me tremendously to keep the bandwidth under control. Thanks. __________________ Pete Bauer The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein Trying to solve a DV mystery? You may find the answer behind the SEARCH function ... or be able to join a discussion already in progress!

September 28th, 2004, 09:38 AM	#4
Cosmin Rotaru Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Romania, Timisoara Posts: 453	Pete, the XL2 footage looks great! But I'd like to some comparision where I can tell how great the XL2 is over the GL2. Not how bad GL2 is compared to XL2... because the GL2 footage looks kinda funny... I have the XM2 (PAL version of GL2) and I think it can do more then what you're showing. Is the "sharpness" turned all way UP on that camera?! I'd like to upgrade from XM2 to XL2. But this test is NOT helping me decide.... __________________ Cosmin Rotaru

September 29th, 2004, 12:28 PM	#6
Alfredo Castil Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 40	Amazing! It is so surprising how the xl2 looks uprezzed to HD. If there were any doubts about me getting the xl2, they are gone. Thanks a lot! __________________ Ask not whether you can afford to make it, but whether can you afford not to.

September 30th, 2004, 04:49 AM	#8
Pete Bauer Wrangler Join Date: May 2003 Location: Eagle River, AK Posts: 4,100	Thanks for the comments, folks. Cosmin, Both cameras used the factory default for colors, sharpness, etc -- EXCEPT I had been playing with the XL2's skin tone feature and I'm not sure if I had remembered to turn that off before doing this little demo. Regardless, in 16:9 (but perhaps not in 4:3?) the XL2 unquestionably has higher resolution, as one would expect. It may be that your PAL XM2 looks better than my NTSC GL2 clip; PAL has more lines and a different chroma scheme (4:2:0 vs 4:1:1) that may give a little different look than NTSC. As far as your decision to buy a new camera...it really depends what you want out of a camera. Although far from encyclopedic, several of us shared a few thoughts in another thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=32268 When I have more time, I'll add another frame grab or two to my web site (probably NOT today). I'll double check and report all pertinent settings. Alfredo and Aaron, Yes, 720p. I captured both cameras' clips into PPro 1.5, trimmed them down, added the titles, and exported using PPro's Adobe Media Encoder WM9 720p setting. I was simply attempting to minimize visible transcoding artifacts so that the actual differences in the two cameras' images would not be masked by the transcoding and additional compression. But I guess this also shows that for those of us looking forward to the day when HDTV will be ubiquitous, our (up-rezzed) XL2 footage will still look ok on the Home Big Screen. Ciao for now, __________________ Pete Bauer The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein Trying to solve a DV mystery? You may find the answer behind the SEARCH function ... or be able to join a discussion already in progress!

September 30th, 2004, 07:10 AM	#9
Cosmin Rotaru Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Romania, Timisoara Posts: 453	Pete, thank you for your explanations! I'm not going to upgrade this year. (financial issues!) So, I have plenty of time to read user opinions and decide! Thanks for the other link also! __________________ Cosmin Rotaru

September 25th, 2004, 06:09 PM	#2
Mike Hardcastle Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Lancs , UK Posts: 50	Great footage test pete, all these clips being posted are really making me lean to the XL2 as an upgrade to my XM2 (GL2)....

September 25th, 2004, 06:46 PM	#3
Barry Goyette Trustee Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: San Luis Obispo CA Posts: 1,195	Pete Great comparison...I think this shows what most of us have been experiencing with the camera. I think your uprezzing the footage to 720p is interesting as well...one of the things you notice is the lack of aliasing, compared to the Gl2 image..the lack of stairsteps is one of the things that lets it blow up to HD size and still look good. I just tried it with some of my clips, and I was really surprised how good it holds up. Barry

September 28th, 2004, 10:33 AM	#5
Jim Giberti Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Bethel, VT Posts: 824	Pete...nice site....thanks for the recruiting MP3. <g>.

September 29th, 2004, 03:56 PM	#7
Aaron Shaw Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 587	wow, was this uprezzed to 720p?

March 22nd, 2005, 02:58 PM	#10
Michael OKeefe Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hudson, NH Posts: 53	Hey Pete, Thanks for the footage! I only have one question: is the Xl2 footage supposed to freeze in the middle of the movie, or is that just me?

March 22nd, 2005, 04:01 PM	#11
Armando Ferreira Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: La Mirada Posts: 45	Excellent Thread!! just what I was looking for! :THUMBS UP:

March 22nd, 2005, 08:56 PM	#12
Pete Bauer Wrangler Join Date: May 2003 Location: Eagle River, AK Posts: 4,100	Michael, The cameras were actually side-by-side recording at the same time, but their clips are played in the file sequentially, XL2 first, then GL2. There's an apparent "jump" as the footage switches from the end of the XL2 clip to the beginning of GL2 clip, but I just checked and it played through fine for me directly off the web site. All, Glad some of y'all are finding these little studies useful. While my wife and daughter are out of town the next 5 days, I'll be a "Class B" bachelor so I think I'll have time to do some more mini-tests that are on my video To Do List. __________________ Pete Bauer The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein Trying to solve a DV mystery? You may find the answer behind the SEARCH function ... or be able to join a discussion already in progress!

March 22nd, 2005, 09:05 PM	#13
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Well done, Pete! Let me know if you need hosting assistance with that 16mb file; I'd be happy to upload it if it'll take the strain off of your server. Much appreciated, __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

March 23rd, 2005, 04:30 PM	#14
Michael OKeefe Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hudson, NH Posts: 53	I think it might just be my slow computer then, as it is pausing (video only, audio is fine) during the XL2 part of the video.

March 24th, 2005, 06:54 AM	#15
Matthew Nayman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Toronto Posts: 917	Wow, as an owner fo the GL2 and hopefulyl FUTURE XL2 owner, this was a useful clip. I was actually amazed to see that there is such a difference in the two pictures. I think you just made Canon another $6000 from me!