my Xacti Ca-8 cam with VGA 640x480, DVD quality?

[Frank@UK]

Just got Sanyo Xacti Ca-8 (the waterproof one) and am disappointed with the video picture quality. I think it records in 640x480 vga which I have now seen to be less than PAL at (i think this is right) 768x576.... so does that mean whatever settings I try on my camcorder I will not get it good enough to view on my 32" LCD TV??? It said it was DVD quality recorder on their website etc. But methinks I have been mislead!!! I wanted a camcorder with stills capability but not at video quality expense
Or have I just got settings or summat wrong?? I was simply recording onto cams internal memory....waiting for 8Gb SDHC class6 card to arrive.
Can 640x480 vga be considered DVD quality?

[senu]

Originally Posted by Frank@UK

Just got Sanyo Xacti Ca-8 (the waterproof one) and am disappointed with the video picture quality. I think it records in 640x480 vga which I have now seen to be less than PAL at (i think this is right) 768x576.... so does that mean whatever settings I try on my camcorder I will not get it good enough to view on my 32" LCD TV??? It said it was DVD quality recorder on their website etc. But methinks I have been mislead!!! I wanted a camcorder with stills capability but not at video quality expense
Or have I just got settings or summat wrong?? I was simply recording onto cams internal memory....waiting for 8Gb SDHC class6 card to arrive.
Can 640x480 vga be considered DVD quality?

No PAL DVD resolution is 720 x576., at 25fps
The quality depends on the hardware ( lens and sensor) and perhaps shooting conditions as well as capture format ( A compreesed format like mp4 may lose quality if manipulated later)
and
the quality of encoding to mpeg2 for DVD
As such you can get a even a webcam or camera phone with DVD resolution but quality? Im not as sure
Your Sanyo is not recording at PAL DVD resolution, whether the quality would have been satisfactory on your 32" LCD is purely academic
Certainly you can import it into video editing software and output as DVD resolution but this would be software just upscaling. If you run a VGA video to your TV it will upscale it to its own resolution , ( USually a 32" HD ready LCD can do 1080i " HD ready") but I imagine the quality will be underwhelming

[Frank@UK]

Thank you Senu for your reply. It was what I feared. I have also tried every setting on the camcorder but the resolution is just too weak and therefore picture quality is poor.
It is misleading to read "DVD like quality" etc. on these websites. I am sad to see such a funky looking fun piece of kit just fall completely flat on what I thought was a basic ask from a camcorder..... watchable recorded film clips. Its outta here!
So BUYER BEWARE.... if you want a half decent image on your TV... 640x480 just aint up to the job!!!!Who wants a camcorder like that? Not me!