HD Resolution, Formats and Files
www.ifss.edu.au www.ifssproduction.net What is HD?
High Definition is a Standardized set of Frame Sizes HD 1920x1080 Square Pixels
1280x720 (known as ‘720’) HD 1280x720 Square Pixels 1920x1080 (known as ‘1080’)
HD relates only to Resolution. 1024x576 Square pixels SD DV PAL Widescreen (720x576 @ 1.422:1 PAR) Compression, File Type and Pixel Aspect ratio can vary widely between HD formats. Frame Rates
30p is almost always 29.97fps to match the American NTSC 720 = format.
60p, 30p, 50p, 25p, 24p 24p (matching traditional film 24fps) is popular in NTSC countries to avoid the the look of 29.97fps. 1080 = In PAL countries 25p and 24p are 60i, 50i, 30p, 25p, 24p visually identical so 24p is rarely used.
50p frame rate is possible in some cameras for lower motion-blur images. Interlaced vs Progressive
Interlacing artifacts can be avoided if 50i material is handled correctly and shot well. HD Shooting Formats
AVCHD - Consumer HD cameras
AVC-Intra - Panasonic professional HD cameras
HDV - Wide range of HD cameras from; Sony, Canon, JVC
DVCProHD - Panasonic professional HD cameras
XDCAM EX - Sony solid-state professional cameras
XDCAM - Sony shoulder-mount professional cameras using recordable discs
HDCAM-SR - Sony high-end digital cinema cameras HDV Spec - anamorphic
HDV 1080i = 1440x1080 @ 1.333:1 PAR
1440 (x1.333:1) = 1920 HDV Spec - compression
MPEG2 compression
Long Group of Pictures (GOP)
4:2:0 colour sub-sampling
8bit
720p
1080i HDV Spec
MPEG2 compression
Long Group of Pictures (GOP)
4:2:0 colour sub-sampling
8bit
720p
1080i HDV Spec
MPEG2 compression
Long Group of Pictures (GOP)
4:2:0 colour sub-sampling
8bit
720p = 19mbps - 9gb/hour
1080i = 25mbps - 12gb/hour
HDV creates files the same data size as DV but with up to twice the horizontal resolution Lossless Intermediate HD
Transcoding from Source format to Intermediate Format
The visual quality of uncompressed without the file-size
Lossless compression
Multi-generation
Greater quality precision
More efficient editing performance Intermediate Workflow
Acquisition Source Transcode Lossless Intermediate Export Lossless Archive Export Lossy (HDV) (ProRess422) (ProRess422 or Uncompressed) (H264, DVD)
SHOOT EDIT MASTER DELIVER HDV vs ProRes
HDV ProRes 4:2:2
Lossy Acquisition Codec Lossless Intermediate codec
8bit 10bit
4:2:0 colour sampling 4:2:2 colour sampling
Long GOP Intra-Frame compression (I-frames only)
1280x720 = 9gb/hour approx 1280x720 = 40gb/hour approx
1920x1080 = 12gb/hour approx 1920x1080 = 80gb/hour approx 8bit vs 10bit 8bit vs 10bit ProRes422
Pros: - Better for colour grading and FX. - Better real-time performance when using FX. - More robust and accurate format. - Can be re-rendered and exported without loss. - Can be used in any QT based software (so long as FCP is installed on that computer or the decoder is installed) - Capture direct to ProRes in Final Cut Pro which transcodes the source HDV to ProRes on-the-fly.
Cons: - Much bigger file sizes (approx 1gb/min) - No tape ‘Logging’, Manual capture only. Matted 16:9
1.78:1 16:9 Matteing 16:9
1.85:1 2.35:1