Simple HD question + HD image (jpeg)
 

There's something about HD that I'm just not sure of and I'm hoping someone can explain it in simple terms if possible.

I've just begun shooting and editing in HD and even though my new computer is super suped up with a 22inch HD moniter and can edit fine with it, I do not yet have an HD video card (will get soon).

So the question is 2 fold, what makes the HD HD? Even though I'm seeing and editing the 1920x1080 or 1440x1080 on my monitor, what does the HD card do to make it look HD other than just the pixel size?

Which leads me to the real question, I will be needing to create some custom graphics & titles in photoshop for some HD commercials, so will they be HD by simply making them 1920x1080 at 72 dpi? Or do I have to do something special to them so they will be as HD as the video footage around them?

Any direction would be appreciated, Thanks;)

Hi Danny.................
 

OK, one at a time..........

1. Is your 22 inch monitor really Full HD or just "HD Ready"?

Full HD can display every pixel of a 1920 X 1080 picture, one for one, per pixel. Most Full HD computer monitors can actually display 1920 X 1200 pixels, which means that when displaying Full HD there is a black band at both the top and bottom of the screen for the unused pixels (assuming the screen is set to map one for one, not "Fill the screen").

"HD Ready" cannot show Full HD one for one, but must interpolate the information to get a 1920 X 1080 picture onto a screen with a lesser number of pixels, some screens as small as 1024 X 768 pixels are actually allowed to be "HD Ready"!

If your monitor is only "HD Ready" you'll never see the full beauty of Full HD as it simply can't do it.

2. If you don't have a HD video card (I must assume you mean "Graphics Card") which can throw Full HD at a monitor, then no matter what monitor you have, it can't show Full HD as the card can't O/P it. Your graphics card must be able to O/P at least 1920 X 1080 for a screen to show it, even assuming it can, natively.

So, to sum up - to get Full HD in front of you at the editing desk, you need : Full HD content (1440 or 1920 X 1080) + a graphics card capable of O/P'ing 1920 X 1080 + a monitor that can show same native.

Getting on thin ice with the graphics stuff but assuming your total picture size is either 1920 or 1440 X 1080 then your graphics need to be scaled to fit within this boundary. I don't think dpi comes into it, as the pixel size and resultant picture size depends soley on the end display size.

By which I mean - a 24" screen capable of 1920 X 1080 has a totally different pixel size to a 100" screen with the same pixel count. 20 pixels on the 100" will be a lot bigger than the same 20 pixels on the 24", tho' in relation to the overall picture size, identical.

(Think that last sentence is as clear as mud but I'll let it ride).

Any help?


CS

Thanks for responding Chris,

You're right, I meant that my "Graphics Card" does not display HD. I checked my monitor and the pixel resolution is 1680x1050 (native) (60Hz) with either a HDMI or VGA input, currently I am using the VGA input until I aquire an HD capable Graphics card. So now that I checked that it doesn't look like I'll be getting full HD.

So what are your thoughts on creating a jpeg graphic for HD in Photoshop. Will they be HD if I create them at 1920x1080? Or do I need to do something other than just pixel dimentions?

I'm still confused about what the HD Graphics card does. Haha

Thanks again

High definition is entirely about pixel dimensions.

If you output a 1920x1080 video file, it is a 1080 HD video file, whether or not you can play that back on your own rig, it will play at 1920x1080 on someone else's.

For HD, all you need is a graphics card that will run at 1920x1080 at 60 frames per second during movie playback. Literally the cheapest card on the market, the Nvidia 8400 GS, will work.

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-NX84S512H GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards - about $30.

Alright! Thank you both for responding, that cleared a lot of questions up about HD.

Thanks:)

Danny Winn

Danny you havent said what your graphics card is but unless it's old it can probably do what you want just fine. Typically the available resolutions that the card will report are determined by what monitor you have attached to it.

So your best first step might be to get ahold of a 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 monitor and try it with your existing card.

I had a sub-$80 Nvidia 6600GS card that supported hi-def monitors happily.