sr42 frame rate

So this should be an easy question but the documentation and Sony doesn't know the answer. I called them and the first two people didn't know. The second guy thinks its 29.97 and the third guy, the "senior specialist" said it's 60.

My question is: What are the frame rates for the different modes...
HQ, SP, and LP?

The third guy says it is 60fps regardless of mode...but then how does it reduce the quality and extend the disk space...he didn't have the answer.

Is this camera capable of 14.985fps and is this documented anywhere?

The DCR-SR42 (US Version) records in the NTSC standard which is 29.92 frames per second. The frame rate does not change.



Rich

So this should be an easy question but the documentation and Sony doesn't know the answer. I called them and the first two people didn't know. The second guy thinks its 29.97 and the third guy, the "senior specialist" said it's 60.


29.97 is the NTSC standard FRAME rate. Most folks just round that up to 30 frames per second (though some editing software will actually identify 29.97 TV and 30 Computer as separate modes). NTSC is an interlaced format, wherein each frame consists of separate odd and even fields. The field rate, then is twice the frame rate -- 59.94 (or 60 for simplicity).

This is a constant... If it can be viewed on an analog NTSC TV, it WILL be such. Even stuff burned as "24fps progressive" has to be converted to ~30fps interlace to show... That conversion is done by the DVD player if it wasn't recorded with 2:3 pulldown in place.




My question is: What are the frame rates for the different modes...
HQ, SP, and LP?


These are /quality/ settings... They are affected by how many "bits" of data are stored per second. Video uses a lossy compression scheme, in which more and more detail is lost as you go to lower quality. Fewer details means fewer bits are needed to store the data, which translates to more "run time" on the storage media... But a fuzzier image... Take some still photo into a photo editor, then save it as JPEG at high quality and at lowest quality. Compare the file sizes... Then compare the two saved JPEG images side by side. Your HQ/SP/LP modes are doing the same thing to the video...