As we're moving from Standard Definition video (DV format- you shoot it with most of the cameras ITP has) to HD (High Definition format), there are a few things to know.
Qualities of Standard Definition or DV:
- Aspect ratio: 4:3
- Interlaced scanning
- Pixel count of the frame : 720 x 480
- Frames-per-second rate: 29.97
- 345,600 pixels displayed per frame
Qualities of HD, 720p Format (This is Panasonic's format- it looks really film-like & the datastream is smaller):
- Aspect ratio: 16:9
- Progressive scanning
- Pixel count of the frame: 1280 x 720
- Frames-per-second-rate: 59.954, 23.976, or 29.97
- 921,600 pixels per frame
Qualities of HD, 1080i Format (This is Sony's format- it looks like video or reality TV & the datastream is HUGE):
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Interlaced Scanning
- Pixel count of the frame: 1920 x 1080
- Frames-per-second rates: 29.97 or 59.94
- 2,073,600 pixels per frame
Qualities of HD, 1080p Format (Latest/most popular- comes closest to 35mm film in terms of look & picture quality, but the datastream is HUGE):
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Progressive Scanning
- Pixel Count: 1920 x 1080
- Frames-per-second-rates: 23.976, 24, 25p, 29.97, or 59.94
- 2,073,600 pixels per frame
Defining Terms: -Aspect ratio of an image is its width divided by its height. Two common videographic aspect ratios are 4:3 (1.33:1), universal for standard-definition video formats, and 16:9 (1.78:1), universal to high-definition television, films, and European digital television.
-Interlaced Scanning makes your image look more video-like, less film-like. It's a technique of improving the picture quality of a video signal without consuming extra bandwidth and was designed for display on CRT televisions. With progressive scan, an image is captured, transmitted and displayed in a path similar to text on a page: line by line, from top to bottom. The interlaced scan pattern in a CRT (cathode ray tube) display completes such a scan too, but only for every second line. This is carried out from the top left corner to the bottom right corner of a CRT display. This process is repeated again, only this time starting at the second row, in order to fill in those particular gaps left behind while performing the first progressive scan on alternate rows only. Such scan of every second line is called interlacing.
-Progressive Scanning makes your image look more film-like. I recommend using this format when possible. It's a method for displaying, storing or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to the interlacing used in traditional television systems where only the odd lines, then the even lines of each frame (each image now called a field) are drawn alternately.