Martin Biebel, a journalist for the German video magazine "Videoaktiv digital", has made a resolution chart comparison between the Canon XL H1 and the Sony HVR-Z1 and come to the following conclusions:

SD, 4:3, PAL:
- HVR-Z1: 480 (horizontal) x 450 (vertical)
- XL H1: 550 (horizontal) x 400 (vertical)

HDV, 16:9:
- HVR-Z1: 610 (horizontal) x 750 (vertical) with a loss of sharpness at the borders
- XL H1: 800 (horizontal) x 800 (vertical) with coloured hems at the borders

eh? i thought HDV can record 1440x1080i?

TV lines, not pixels.

any mention of resolution in "F" modes?

<snip>
- XL H1: 800 (horizontal) x 800 (vertical) with coloured hems at the borders

Now that's pretty impressive. I was just watching some of Kaku's clips last night and marveling at the detail this camera captures. I still think if Canon stripped the expensive connections off this cam and priced it in the HD100/Z1 range they'd eat the competition alive. Of course what do I know, they'll still probably sell as many as they can produce.

Philip Williams

TV lines, not pixels.

TV lines are lines per picture height. So, for horizontal resolution, you multiply by 16/9 = 1.7777. 800 horizontal = 1422.

You won't get more than about 800 vertical on an interlaced system due to interlace filtering.

These are good figures for the XL1H, but I'm disappointed in the "coloured hems".

Graeme

I always wondered why my resolution chart only went up to 800, what is a coloured hem?

Probably some form of chromatic aberation.

Graeme