XL2 side-by-side GL2 at DVinfo.net
DV Info Net

Go Back   DV Info Net > Canon EOS / MXF / AVCHD / HDV / DV Camera Systems > Canon HDV and DV Camera Systems > Canon XL and GL Series DV Camcorders

Canon XL and GL Series DV Camcorders
Canon XL2 / XL1S / XL1 and GL2 / XM2 / GL1 / XM1.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old September 25th, 2004, 05:07 PM   #1
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!
Pete Bauer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 25th, 2004, 06:09 PM   #2
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)....
Mike Hardcastle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 25th, 2004, 06:46 PM   #3
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
Barry Goyette is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 28th, 2004, 09:38 AM   #4
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
Cosmin Rotaru is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 28th, 2004, 10:33 AM   #5
Major Player
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bethel, VT
Posts: 824
Pete...nice site....thanks for the recruiting MP3. <g>.
Jim Giberti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 29th, 2004, 12:28 PM   #6
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.
Alfredo Castil is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 29th, 2004, 03:56 PM   #7
Major Player
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 587
wow, was this uprezzed to 720p?
Aaron Shaw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 30th, 2004, 04:49 AM   #8
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!
Pete Bauer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 30th, 2004, 07:10 AM   #9
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
Cosmin Rotaru is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 22nd, 2005, 02:58 PM   #10
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?
Michael OKeefe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 22nd, 2005, 04:01 PM   #11
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: La Mirada
Posts: 45
Excellent Thread!! just what I was looking for! :THUMBS UP:
Armando Ferreira is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 22nd, 2005, 08:56 PM   #12
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!
Pete Bauer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 22nd, 2005, 09:05 PM   #13
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!
Chris Hurd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 23rd, 2005, 04:30 PM   #14
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.
Michael OKeefe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 24th, 2005, 06:54 AM   #15
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!
Matthew Nayman is offline   Reply
Reply

DV Info Net refers all where-to-buy and where-to-rent questions exclusively to these trusted full line dealers and rental houses...

B&H Photo Video
(866) 521-7381
New York, NY USA

Scan Computers Int. Ltd.
+44 0871-472-4747
Bolton, Lancashire UK


DV Info Net also encourages you to support local businesses and buy from an authorized dealer in your neighborhood.
  You are here: DV Info Net > Canon EOS / MXF / AVCHD / HDV / DV Camera Systems > Canon HDV and DV Camera Systems > Canon XL and GL Series DV Camcorders

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:55 PM.


DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2024 The Digital Video Information Network