Upgrading from DV to HDV

Image Comparisons of Canon GL1 with JVC GY-HD100U

Posted Feb 13, 2006 by Earl R. Thurston

As I write this, heated debates are taking place all over the Internet as to which of the new "baby" HD cameras is best. The level-headed consensus is that all of them are pretty darned good image-wise, so it really boils down to which capabilities and features are best for any given purpose or preference.

But for some people the question is about whether to move to HD at all. Is the difference in image quality really worth the investment? For us, the answer is a resounding "yes!". However, one has to consider the specifics of the sitution.

Our Situation

We have been using a Canon GL1 for the past five years. While certainly not the most current or highest-quality MiniDV camera around, it has served us very well. It was most recently used for a respected educational video [link broken!] about beverage container recycling, which was in turn edited into several public service announcments ( [Links Updated:] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ) for airing on province-wide television in BC and Alberta. Not too bad for a little camera competing in an industry dominated by BetaSP (and a production originally intended for CD-ROMs!)

An upcoming project has now given us the opportunity to upgrade. Although it will intially be distributed in NTSC, it is expected to have a three- or four-year life span, so there is the potential for the footage to be shown in HD eventually. With that in mind, and the new availability of affordable HD cameras, we decided to take the plunge and move from standard definition to high definition.

After a lot of research, we narrowed down our choices to the Panasonic HVX200 and JVC GY-HD100U. My initial preference was the Panasonic mainly because it has a wider range of features we could utilize, including native 4:2:2 colour sampling (important for bluescreen/greenscreen work). Unfortunately, the scheduling of the project and slow roll-out of the HVX meant we couldn't wait for it, so we opted for the HD100 instead.

Note that we bought the camera without testing it first. I was confident about its capabilities and image quality based on reports from sites like DV Info Net and DVXuser that we simply placed our order sight unseen. However, what wasn't clear at the time was how it compared directly against the GL1.

Hence the purpose of this page. Once we had the HD100, we were eager to conduct some tests to see how the two cameras compare. Perhaps these tests will be useful to other GL1 owners who are considering making the move to HD themselves.

SD versus HD

First off, it would be prudent to address the simple fact that we're dealing with two entirely different formats. An SD camera shooting 4:3 aspect at 720 x 480 is going to produce a substantially different image than an HD camera at 16:9 aspect 1280 x 720. Therefore, this page attempts to compare the images in both domains. Each still below is provided in an SD-resolution version, with HD scaled down and letterboxed to compare against the GL1; and an HD-resolution version, with SD scaled up and cropped to match the HD100.

Methodology

  SD Resolution
4:3 @ 720x480 (0.9 aspect)
HD Resolution
16:9 @ 1280x720 (1.0 aspect)
1  GL1 Native
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Down/Letter
JPG / TIFF
GL1 Up/Cropped
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Native
JPG / TIFF
2  GL1 Native
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Down/Letter
JPG / TIFF
GL1 Up/Cropped
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Native
JPG / TIFF
3  GL1 Native
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Down/Letter
JPG / TIFF
GL1 Up/Cropped
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Native
JPG / TIFF
4  GL1 Native
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Down/Letter
JPG / TIFF
GL1 Up/Cropped
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Native
JPG / TIFF
5  GL1 Native
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Down/Letter
JPG / TIFF
GL1 Up **
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Native
JPG / TIFF
6a  GL1 Native
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Down/Letter
JPG / TIFF
GL1 Up/Cropped
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Native
JPG / TIFF
6b  GL1 Native
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Down/Letter
JPG / TIFF
GL1 Up/Cropped
JPG / TIFF
HD100 Native
JPG / TIFF

Notes and Observations

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about these tests, feel free to post them to either DV Info Net or DVXuser (both have free registration). I have an account on both of these sites and would be eager to hear from you. You can also email me here.