From the article you quote, frame mode is made from interlaced scanning and is not native progressive:
"Several cameras, including the Panasonic AJ-EZ1 and AJ-D200/210/215 and the Canon XL1 and GL1, have a "frame movie mode" or "frame mode" switch that changes the way the CCD is read out into buffer memory from interlaced to progressive scanning."

From http://www.camcorderinfo.com/:
"Pressing the widescreen / pro-cinema mode button a second time will turn on the Pro Cinema Mode. There was much excitement over the Pro Cinema function when the camcorder was first introduced because Panasonic made it appear as though it was a 30 frames progressive scan mode. While the casual user will notice that the Pro Cinema mode looks like film, it is not true 30P and appears to be the same frame mode as on the PV-DV953. The mode also changes the color cast and contrast of the image slightly, to give it more of a film look. It's a neat feature, but it doesn't replicate true progressive scan recording."

So the GS400 is not progressive but the 16/9 picture is beautiful !

Wow, I'm glad I don't read that forum. What a bunch of incorrect information! How did they get to the point where you are *adding* the pixel count from all 3CCD to get the resolution of the camera?! 3x 1.1MP CCDs = close to 4MP?! Those are the separate RGB components of the same 1.1MPs. The 4MP number comes from interpolation. My goodness...

I am confused about that. Can anyone clarify "3x 1.1MP CCDs = close to 4MP" statement?

Leigh,

It was this link http://dvdf.hexus.net/showthread.php...t=GS400+16%3A9. The statement doesn't make any sense, but it's what the moderator at that link was saying. Yikes.

Josh

Hi Josh,

I read that link already and at time I read the link I thought that no one object "3x 1.1MP CCDs = close to 4MP" in that thread, so it might be correct. But now you said that is wrong. I . That is the confusing I am facing now.

Regards
Leigh

There is a lot of bad information in that thread. It is clear that, although Roberts may know about DV, he doesn't have a clue about the technology in the GS400.

Among a number of things wrong with that thread is the statement about 3-CCD camcorders in general: "because the green sensor will be offset spatially from the red and blue by half a pixel horizontally." He is describing the Pixel Shift process, invented by Panasonic and adopted by most all camera makers. Trouble is, not all 3-CCD sensor blocks use Pixel Shift. Some do, and some do not. And there are different varieties of Pixel Shift: you can have a physical offset in either axis, or an electronic offset in either axis, or a physical offset in one axis and an electronic offset in the other. Main point being though that not all 3-CCD camcorders use Pixel Shift.

But enough of discussing the threads from other sites, fellows... this is DV Info Net... let's discuss our own topics, shall we? Thanks in advance,

Sorry to offend by cross referring.

Re GS400 image sensors and pixel counts, my GS400 operating instructions state:
Image sensor 1/4.7 inch 3CCD image sensor (Effective pixels: moving picture/690k x 3, still picture/990k x 3, Total:1070 x 3).
Still image size: megapixel recording 2288 x 1728 (4.0 million pixels).

For the reason I described Alan Roberts as an expert please see BBC R&D White Paper WHP034 here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp034.shtml

Pixel Shift does in fact allow you to get a higher-res still image out of a 3-CCD camcorder. For the GS400 to have this is not a new thing to the industry. The Canon GL2 for example will provide a 1.7mp still image to memory card, and it has three CCD's at 410kp/380kp (total/effective kilopixels) each. Pixel Shift creates more sampling points per each pixel photosite.