720p and 1080i

[Fluff]

Why?

And HDTV displays are currently 1366 x 768?

Has someone made a mess up?

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NTSC and PAL Formats

NTSC

NTSC stands for the National Television Standards Committee. It is a video signal standard used by the color television industry in the United States and Japan.

The NTSC is a common format used by many video compression boards.

NTSC video contains frames and fields. Most NTSC video frames consist of two interlaced fields. Each field is displayed as alternating horizontal lines across the screen. Most computer video formats are non-interlaced.

The frame aspect ratio used by the NTSC standard format is 4:3. This format uses a 640 by 480 resolution.

By using the NTSC standard for digital video, there are two areas of concern when dealing with aspect ratios. They are as follows:

· Pixel aspect ratio

· Frame aspect ratio

There are various divisions within the NTSC standard which determine what pixel and frame aspect ratios are used. These formats are as follows:

· NTSC (resolution 648 x 486 - preferred format)

· D-1 NTSC (resolution 720 x 486)

· D-1 NTSC Square Pix (resolution 720 x 540)

NTSC (Preferred Format)
This NTSC format uses a 648 by 486 resolution format. This format makes an allowance for a few additional pixels to be created on the screen edge that may be cut off when displayed. This format is also commonly used by many video compression boards.

Because this format allows you to display a video without losing the "edges" of your video during playback, this resolution seems to be the preference within the industry.

D-1 NTSC
The D-1 NTSC format uses the same standard frame aspect ratio as the NTSC format. Unlike the NTSC format, the D-1 NTSC format uses a 720 by 486 resolution using rectangular pixels.

The D-1 pixels used in the NTSC format are displayed using a vertical axis.

D-1 NTSC Square Pix
This format uses the same standard frame aspect ratio as the NTSC format. Unlike the NTSC format, the D-1 NTSC Square Pix uses a 720 by 540 resolution using rectangular pixels.

PAL
PAL stands for the Phase Alternating Line. This is a video standard used by the color television industry and is the common standard used in Europe. This video signal format sets the video to playback at 25 frames per second which contain 625 lines of pixels in each frame.

There are various divisions within the PAL standard which determine what pixel and frame aspect ratios are used. These formats are as follows:

· PAL (resolution 720 x 486)

· D-1 PAL (resolution 720 x 576)

· D-1 PAL Square Pix (resolution 768 x 576)

D-1 PAL
The D-1 pixels used in the PAL format are displayed using a horizontal axis. This format uses the same standard frame aspect ratio as the PAL format. Unlike the PAL format, the D-1 PAL uses a 720 by 576 resolution.

D-1 PAL Square Pix
This format uses the same standard frame aspect ratio as the PAL format. Unlike the PAL format, the D-1 PAL Square Pix uses a 768 by 576 resolution using rectangular pixels.

HDTV (1280 x 720)
The HDTV stands for High Definition Television. This format is a proposed definition which displays at 1280 by 720 resolution.

HDTV (1920 x 1080)
The HDTV stands for High Definition Television. This format is a proposed definition which displays at 1920 by 1080 resolution.

Film (Academy)
This format uses 2048 x 1536, a standard resolution used for digital film.

[Jammrock]

An HDTV's resolution depends in large to what technology it uses. DLP, CRT, SXRD, HD-ILM(?), etc. Especially with older HDTVs, they do not display the exact HDTV resolution, but display whatever the tech allows them to, and then uses video processors to scale HD content to the HDTV's natural res.

No mistakes, just work arounds.

[Mehen]

watch out for HDTV capable and true HDTV, anything that is 720p or 1080i IS HDTV, but some tv's with lower resolutions than either of those will claim its HDTV, but really they are just saying it will accept the signal and translate it to the lower res

that HDTV display at 1366x768 is still HDTV (provided it is progressive not interlaced), changing the res from 720p or 1080i to 1366x768 should still look very good

personnaly, i would go for something that is 720p native resolution, better for fast stuff, whereas 1080 is better for still pictures (and more $$)

[Mehen]

if you are looking at buying something soon... DONT, wait till the whole HD-DVD mess is sorted out, and see if they are going to use a standard resolution for them (ie all dvds will be 720p as opposed to 1080i or something)

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup....stick to devices with a standard set of HD resolutions if you want the best results. 720p or 1080i are the standards, though the width will depend on if its full frame or anamorphic.

Ex: full frame 1080i is 1920x1080, but most encoding is currently being done to 1440x1080 (anamorphic) to save bits.

This is also the case with the new HDV camcorders.

Dr. Mordrid