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| Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5) |
| Review | Rating | Last Updated | Half HD - too good to be true
The HVR-Z1U seems too good to be true. And it is.
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<br />It promises a camera with full HD resolution and outstanding features for a reasonable price. In many ways, it delivers. The video quality is superior to the JVC HDV camera. Unlike the JVC, the camera offers full manual control and is a pleasure to shoot with professionally.
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<br />Alas - for someone who expects and needs full HD resolution, the Sony is a disappointment. Pointing the camera at a resolution chart while viewing the output on a high resolution monitor (or on a computer after rendering to 1080i or 1080p) quickly reveals that the horizontal resolution is about 1200 lines, and vertical resolution is a little over 500.
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<br />The pixel count is thus about twice that of standard video, not four times, as we perhaps hoped. The 1200 lines of horizontal resolution is pretty good - just about the same as 720p. But the vertical resolution is not very good at all.
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<br />To make matters distinctly worse, the Sony lacks a lens with optical motion correction. The default mode of the camera uses an electronic motion correction that reduces the output resolution to about that of DV. If you use a tripod you can switch this "feature" off.
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<br />A little math tells the story. Sony advertizes 1.1M pixels for each sensor, and 1440 lines horizontal. 1.1M/1440 gives a maximum of 770 lines vertical, not 1080 as promised. The measured vertical resolution is distinctly lower.
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<br />If you examine carefully the image of a resolution chart which includes a series of horizontal light and dark bars at 700 lines per frame, you clearly see an alias. The frequency of the alias is consistent with a sampling frequency of 540 horizontal lines.
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<br />Apparently Sony has made the sensor with 1990 vertical lines and 540 horizontal lines - this comes out to 1.1M pixels per chip. When you set the camera to 1080i 30 fps, the hardware actually shoots 1990x540 at 60 fps, and then | 3 | 802 days ago | Awesome Technology Here!!!
Indie Filmmaker here, always looking out for a better camera!
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<br />The Sony HDV series is an astonishing technology
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<br />Don't let people tell you that the footage is "too compressed" ---- technically, it is, but once it gets on screen, it looks stunning!
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<br />I haven't done much filming with this camera ---- but I have seen its footage and edited its footage
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<br />Both on television and the computer monitor, I was impressed with its 'look' ---- very detailed and extremely clear
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<br />Editing was a BREEEEEZE with this footage! I edited on Final Cut Pro and could composite 5 layers all above each other, each with a different opacity, and FCP's real time engine kept up without having to render! Thus, the compressed footage makes editing EASY - but Sony has managed to make a beautiful picture out of this stuff too
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<br />For the Indie Filmmakers out there ---- test one out before purchasing..... I find the Sony HDV to be the most clear look out there --- emulating a beautifully shot NFL game on HD..... but for cinematic looks, I still may stick with the Panasonic DVX100, as there is a more cinema feel to that one
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<br />hope that helps
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<br />HAPPY BUYING!!!! | 5 | 802 days ago |
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