I usually have the detail set to -8 or -9. Yes, at Normal, there is too much detail and everything gets a sort of "ringing effect" around the edges, and I think that makes the judder seem worse.
As far as the DVX100 seeming smoother, it's probably subjective on my part. Both it and the JVC have 1/3" CCD's, but perhaps since the DVX is SD and not HD, there is a softening of the judder effect. Without trying to start any controversial topic here, I am very fond of the "filmic" look of Panasonic's cameras in general. But I've been using the HD250 for almost a year and I'm very happy with it.

One of the samples Tim Dashwood has online for his ProHD video is on shapening. You can see it on this page by clicking "Sample 1":
http://www.dvinfo.net/prohd/preview.php

You know.. maybe just to beat a dead horse... I'll shoot some boring panning and zooming this 3 day weekend on the JVC but in SD 24p Wide and see what it looks like, especially after I get it to DVD. I did some methodical testing before and I still prefered the HDV downconverted to DVD more than the SD 24p, but just to see if there was something to HDV being a little twitchier than SD 24p you experienced with your DVX100.

Hmmm... for a lot of what I'm shooting, I might as well be shooting 24p DV Wide anyway since I'm not going to master Blu-Ray for this stuff anyway, and it would save me tons of time on downconverting. Hmmm... need to find a victim I mean a volunteer to run around in the sun repeatedly. Hmm..

If you've got an HD or HDV camera why choose to shoot in SD just because that's your output?

I'd recommend shooting in highest quality and going down from there, not starting from a low point! And as for the extra time spent downconverting? What extra time?

At the moment we shoot all of our corporate stuff in HDV and it ends up on sd DVD. There is no 'extra' downconverting process. This all happens in the render. Right? Unless I'm missing something completely obvious?

Going off topic here a bit maybe!

Oh, just to save time.. about 1/3 the output render time as downconverting HDV to DVD. Even the SD 24p I shoot with the JVC is 100x better than any of my competitors in two counties, everyone is thrilled if I show up for an event. I just seem to remember that the HDV downconverted to SD DVD widescreen still looked significantly better to NTSC widescreen 24p to DVD. I won't bet a lot on that, but that is what I remember. Now for anything that I"m working on for me (documentary/narrative etc) I always shoot 720p. For some of my projects for friends and families where there is little money, I doubt anyone could see the difference and it would save me lots of time. I still probably wouldn't shoot NTSC since I always want to get the best to a friend or a customer. Now I do shoot NTSC when I'm lead camera on other local broadcast etc, since thier equipment isn't HD and it would be a HUGE waste of time for them. Match the color, shoot, hand over tape and walk away.

As well, I'm a bigger fan of 4:2:0 colour space over 4:1:1 after 11 years of shooting DV/DVCam.

I have to agree that shooting HDV on the JVC looks much better than SD. Perhaps the combination of 709 color space, 4:2:0 compression and the obvious 1280x720 vs. 720x480 accounts for this. More resolution, more latitude, better color fidelity, etc.

has anyone else reseen their 24p footage on a 120hz monitor?
 

I just watched part of a spider man movie at the store, ( i live in the sticks.. have to drive to the next county to see a good HDTV). and i was watching the new Sony XBR9 32" 120hz set with the motion gizmos off. Just the 120hz. WOW! I mean WOW for 24p motion. It was like being in the theater. I checked the techno video HDTV forums and it was well liked, but most people keep their motion smoothing hardware OFF on the TV as well. The big thing it was 120 hz. I might have to get one this month.

I guess my point was, on film based movies (spider man in this case) it also exhibited the juddering strobing effect on medium speed pans that you do not see at the theater because most LCD's are 60 hz. The 120 panels refresh in sequence with the 24p much better and that strobing effect was not evident.

So if you check out one of the new 120hz, watch a HD movie and also try switching the motion smoothing garbage off. Apparently it goes toooo far and can result in electronic double images, according to other forums.