[davidarf]

I am looking to replace my Panasonic NV-DS15, but I am getting conflicting advice from different suppliers. One supplier has recommended the Canon MVX3i for the type of filming I do, but another has recommended the lower resolution MVX250i. When I asked about this I was told that miniDV tapes cannot cope with the higher resolution of the MVX3i and therefore the extra expense would be a waste - has anyone any thoughts on this advice please. Is there a maximum useable resolution?

[MarkE19]

Well from what I can tell from the advise you have been given, it seems to be a bit misleading. The resolution of a CCD has very little to do with the resolution of the video recording due to the fact that PAL (the UK TV standard) is a fixed resolution of 625 lines (NTSC for the USA is 525). The additional resolution of the CCD is only used for captureing better quality still images, and is still unlikely to come close to the PQ you would get from a dedicated stills camera.
I don't know about the 2 camcorders you are looking at, but if you do want to take still photos (then get a stills camera ) then the MVX3i may be a better option otherwise save the extra money and get the cheaper cam unless there are other advantages to the MVX3i.

Mark.

you've been misinformed, as mark points out the maximum resolution is determined by the broadcast locale, not the cassette.

miniDV is being used as the cassette system for the new HDV cameras, and can record 1080 lines of video (uk PAL broadcast is 576 picture lines, the extra 50 are for text information) although the compression system and codec is different (MPEG2 for HDV, AVI for conventional DV).

The extra res will really only benefit your stills. My DSR570 & AJ700 both give around 800 lines at the CCD end, but will only record 576 on tape, however this extra resolution allows the cameras image processing to be more effective.