The main differences between the tape formats are image resolution, sound quality, tape size, recording time and tape cost. For more information on each of the available formats, check out Camcorder Formats . This will let you play movies on your television or make VHS copies that will play in standard VCRs. Camcorder resolution is measured in horizontal lines of resolution, which tells you how much picture detail your video will have when you view it on a television. Televisions have vertical resolution and horizontal resolution.
Vertical resolution is the number of horizontal scan lines that make up a picture.
In any country, all conventional video signals will have the same vertical resolution because a television's scanning electron gun always paints the horizontal lines that make up television images in the same way. Essentially, horizontal resolution is a measure of how many vertical scan lines are included in a video signal. Another way to look at this is how many distinct bits of visual information is contained in each horizontal scan line. To get higher horizontal lines of resolution, a camcorder has to record more information for every horizontal scan line. A camcorder's lines of resolution measure simply tells you how much picture detail it records.