What resolution camcorder do I need to look normal on tv?

Question

Im buying the new Canon SD 1100 digital camcorder. and im going to Japan this summer and will be taking pics, and videos.

the video that the camera takes is 640x480 resolution at 30/fps.

now...will that be blurry on a normal tv? i watched some videos and it looks like good quality, but i was always on the computer, never on tv.

so im wondering...other than HD whats the next resolution lvl? 720x480?

what resolution are most projection/tube tvs? because thats what I have.

My tv is 27". Can i record with 640x480 and still have it look good on my tv?

thanks. and im not looking for HD quality, just normal tv quality.

Answer 1

sorry somehow we got to confusing analog TV resolution lines with digital pixel count. A digital picture with 640 horizontal PIXELS is equivalent to 320 TV LINES analog resolution.  Most larger size TV sets are capable of more than 320 TV lines resolution.  320 is the resolution of NTSC analog television broadcast signal which will soon be obsolete. Standard Definition for the new ATSC broadcast will be 480x640 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio (thanks to Bill Gates who told the ATSC his Windows computers can ONLY use square pixels). Standard Definition for miniDV (and all digital videotape formats) is 480x720 pixels. The extra horizontal pixels means miniDV can also shoot at 16:9 widescreen with good results.

to summarize, 480x640 will be as good as standard television, but not as sharp as your 27 inch TV set is capable of, so you decide what the trade off should be.