The FOV and focal length are not the same, so the more telephoto image will look sharper.

It's true I screwed up on getting identical frames, but the size of the rocks in the lower left is the same on both shots. There's other things in the frame that are the same size, like the cracks between the bricks.

If you look at it on the right monitor/device the difference is pretty clear regardless.

The difference is clear but I'm not sure it's meaningful giving the differences in the frames .

Nate, do you remember how were the settings in both cameras? Did you try to match the colors? I will be shooting a doc with 2 cameras next week and I haven't decided yet which to use, the DVX100A or the HD101. The colors on the DVX100 look better, but the HD100 has more resolution. Maybe with some adjustments you could have improved the colors on the HD100, did you try to do it?

Thanks for this, it's helpful
...can't wait to do this test again in about a month with the HVX200

Nooooo...the point of the test was resolution only. I've been using Tim's DVX color matrix settings on my HD100 and it's been matching DVX stuff closely enough.

The answer is, yes, the color settings could have been much better on that test for the HD100.

I can't think of a single reason to use the DVX over the HD100 for most purposes.

Nate I would also love to see the DVX100 blown up compared to the HD100. I think we all know the HD100 will have more detail but just how much so. I know a lot of people who debate with me on the issue of if HD is even worth it. A lot of these people think good SD looks good enough even on a large plasma TV so they do not really see the advantage to HD at this point. I have taken HDV clips found on this forum from every current HDV camera and made a down converted DVD to show a bunch of people and while the stuff looked amazing they still swear there SD cameras look just as good. I tried pointing out the level of detail but they just didn't see it. Since we are all eventually moving to large HD displays at some point in the near future it would be nice to finally see what everything will look like displayed that way. As SD both look good with the HD100 having a slight advantage but how much of an advantage will the HD100 have when viewed as HD.

It looks soft. But honestly, see for yourself.

The difference in apparent sharpness is greater than just examining the numbers would suggest.

Considering the HD100 was only $2k more than a DVX, I probably would have paid that much more for the camera just for it's form factor, manual lens, and higher res in DV mode, HDV aside.

Agreed. It's hard for the industry to sell HD sets when they keep advertising ED sets as HD.

The people I shoot/direct for see and know the difference. They view the camera as a budget Varicam.

Actually I have a couple of HVD's and an HVD player (Chinese format) - all I need to work out is how to author the things (that seems to be a black Chinese art). Seems to be straight forward 720P MPEG 2 @ roughly 14Mb/s in a modified DVD format.

It's not really a delivery format, just an interesting niche

What about DVD Studio Pro 4?
http://www.apple.com/ca/finalcutstudio/dvdstudiopro/

Aside from offering 16x9 the resolution is the same. Or are you saying when you downsample to DV it looks better?

It's not though. Since those tests I had a multicamera concert shoot with DVXs and my HD100 setup to DVX color settings. The HD100 isn't too hard to spot in the final edit.

Look for "Avenged Sevenfold, Live in Concert" on MTV2.

[edit: the effect is greater when shooting HDV and downsampling. Also, the difference between the DVX and HD100 in DV mode isn't "Oh my god, look at that!", but to my eye there's definitely a difference]

Nate,

Is this what you shot?

http://www.mtv2.com/#series/19223

S.Noe

OK I see what your saying Nate. I thought you were actually talking spec rez as compared to the say the SD modes which are actually derived from more pixels.

Yeah, that's it. Myself and my producer Joe Grzeskowiak produced, I shot the front and center (FOH) camera on the HD100. I also edited, color-corrected, and onlined.

It's still not done either! Still compiling different versions with different songs for different outlets!