1) Cameras: To avoid the possibility of differences in camera lenses
affecting the results, the following setup was used:
A Sony DCR TRV720 digital8 camecorder was used to video
two boys and a dog at a
distance of 15 feet using wide angle setting, auto focus,
automatic shutter, and image stabilizer on.
2) Tape: The signal was fed from the TRV720 to a Sony CCD TRV-85 Hi8
camcorder through an S video cable. The signal was recorded simultaneously
as analogue signal (Hi8) on a TDK Hi8 MP tape in the TRV-85 and as digital signal
(Dig8) on a similar tape in the TRV720.
3) Analogue to Digital conversion: Analogue data recorded by the
TRV-85 was transfered back to the TRV720 via S video cable and rerecorded as
digital (Hi8-->Dig8).
4) Image capture-Snappy: Each of the three tapes was played back on the camcorder
on which it was recorded to a Videonics MXPro mixer via an S video cable and from
there to a Snappy Deluxe 3.0 video digitizer via an a/v cable. Images were captured
at 640x480 pixels.
5) Image capture- Memory stick: Each of the three tape were played back in the TRV720 camcorder as images captured with the onboard Memory Stick according to instructions. Captured images were downloaded from the TRV720 to a PC using the PC serial cable and
PictureGear Version 4.1 Lite software bundled with the camcorder.
6) Image capture-Firewire: Each tape was played back in the TRV720 and images captured using PhotoDV software.
7)Images: Each 640x480 image was stored as a JPG file. For the on screen comparison below each image was resized to 200x150 pixels (Table 1).
