Why does the HVX200 capture 1280x1080 rather than 1920x1080?

Probably because Panasonic couldn’t source imaging chips that would capture the native image, pixel for pixel, at the necessary price or size.
Want proof? Figure 1 shows a video frame exported from Premiere Pro at its native resolution of 1280x1080. As you can see, the wheel is oval. These are the pixels actually captured by the Panasonic.












In Figure 2, the frame was expanded by 150 percent to its intended display resolution of 1920x1080, and the wheel is round. This is the image you would see in your video editor or on your HDTV, which both know to expand DVCPRO HD video out to 150 percent of horizontal resolution.

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