[Max @ Sep 18th 2007 12:05AM]

Except that XDCAM (EX or HD), while certainly more efficient in bitrate than DVCPRO HD, is not necessarily the better codec. It's basically the pro version of HDV, so it's still a 4:2:0, long-GOP MPEG2 compression, compared to 4:2:2, Intraframe DVCPRO HD. On that PMW-EX1 you're talking up, the SP quality setting actually is just HDV video with uncompressed audio. HQ mode bumps up the bitrate by 10mbits, but you're still dealing with the same limitations.

Not saying DVCPRO HD is always better-- the lower disk space requirements of XDCAM definitely make it a more affordable option, and in terms of straight resolution, the EX1 will beat the HVX, but you're making a tradeoff in ease of chroma keying (reduced colorspace) and fast motion scenes (higher compression) that could easily be a dealbreaker for a lot of projects.

You are absolutely right that bitrate is irrelevant compared to image quality, but there's a lot more to image quality than just resolution, so to say that XDCAM is universally the higher-quality codec just isn't true. Perhaps you should heed your own advice and do a little more research before making blanket statements?