Sony MPEG VX movie mode
 

I've noticed a number of Sony models sporting MPEG VX movie mode. What exactly is that ? User reviews state that it is some
sort of interpolated movie mode and is a total ripoff. Ideally,
it could an implementation using MPEG2.

Even Sony doesn't disclose the details :

www.sony.net/enjoy-photo-movie/ cyber-shot/features/mpg_movie_vx_fine.html

This feature is attractive to me in a digital still camera. I've
seen some samples, and to me, they look a little better than
the usual 320x240 Motion JPEG movies.

Thanks for any insight.

Gints, a lot of digital cameras (non DSLR) these days are sporting amazing 640x480 30fps movie modes with sound. They are often only limited in movie length by the size of your memory card. The Canon Powershot S1 comes to mind in that it also has optical image stabilization and an ultrasonic zoom motor that allows for zooms during movies (most cams lock the zoom at start of recording).

As for Sony MPEG VX it means 640x480 @ 15fps and MPEG VS Fine is 640x480 @ 30fps (but requires Memory Stick Pro).

Hope this helps.

ps - You can also search on dcresource.com for downloadable movies from digital camera reviews for reference.

Thanks for the links, Tommy. I really like the movie features you mention, and the Canon PowerShot1 :

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s1-review/index.shtml

I missed this model. The audio is much better, even with
the internal microphone slits, at 22 KHz, 16-bit stereo. Very nice.
With IS and zooming during movies, this camera looks great.
It's so hard to get casual stills with larger devices, such as my Nikon D70 or Sony Vx2000. And, it can take four AA batrteries.
Awesome ! Best Buy sells rechargeable NiMH AA's that are 2300 mAh each. Every camera manufacturer should move away from
those silly proprietary batteries, or at least provide a "brick" casing that fits several AA's that can be recharged as a group.

I hark on this point because everyone can see my
Nikon D70 (no flash) with one of my f/1.4 indoor lens, yet my friend walks around with his little Canon S45 Point&Shoot and snags better pictures. I did a lot better with my old Canon S40 until it broke.

I ask about the Sony VX mode because there is a LOT of speculation about the actual movie quality. Short of testing a new Sony camera myself, I've relied on user reviews that Sony's VX fine mode doesn't really record a true 640x480. There are other wierd statements
in brand new cameras, such as Nikon's 8800 movie mode: 640 x 480 pixels; 30 fps, up to 100 frames. This review shows a Sandisk Ultra II in the camera. What ?!?! It seems that few of
these cameras can actually do on the fly compression at DV data resolution.