resolution is measured by counting the horizontal lines needed to create the high definition video image. In the case of the HG21, the best it can do is 1920 (columns) x 1080 (rows). Quick Math says that is about 2.07 megapixels. This is NTSC standard high definition video resolution. Video resolution and still resolution are *very* different.
I recorded an HD video on my Canon Vixia HG21 and want to create a high-quality still shot from one of the frames. I imported the AVCHD file to my Dell laptop (Win 7 64-bit, Intel T6400 2GHz duo core, 4GB RAM) and opened it in Windows Live Movie Maker. The video display on the laptop screen is not HD (also not as good as when i simply play a DVD or stream Netflix), and when Movie Maker takes a snapshot of a given frame, the image isn't photo-quality. Is there any cheap way to create a high-quality still shot from the HD video?

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