There is a consensus of opinion that this workflow still yields a superior visual quality out of the finished DVD. There's more to SD than pixel count. Some SD looks better than others. Example: Digibeta vs. mini-DV. Less compression of signal(luma and chroma), higher lens resolving on high end ENG style cams, etc. Both formats I mentioned are 720X480 but there's a definite visual distinction between the two.

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