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-   -   720 vs. 1080 debate (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/general-hd-720-1080-acquisition/42038-720-vs-1080-debate.html)

Khoi Pham April 23rd, 2005 06:45 PM

Oh yeah, I meant there will be much more to choose from in 3 months, not most tv will be it 1080p, right now there is only 2 to choose from.

Steve Crisdale April 23rd, 2005 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven White
Well "most TV's" is wrong... but I disagree that the price will be astronomical. The DLP technology is one of the cheapest ways to get half-decent HD displays. While the 1920x1080 plamas are going to be extremely expensive, the projection technologies are a lot more efficient and simpler to manufacture. The reasons I haven't bought an HDTV yet is because

a) I don't have room for a 34" CRT (the depth is just too big)

and

b) None of the plasmas or DLP projection DVs have been 1920x1080p. There's no way I'm buying a TV that isn't native to what my camcorder puts out.

So you wouldn't buy a current device that may well do an outstanding job of scaling 1080 to the devices native resolution? What if the prices of a good scaling HDTV meant that you could at least enjoy what's currently available right now, while waiting for the 1080 native sets to infiltrate the market?

My 2c's worth.... I'd much rather enjoy seeing my FX-1e clips on my Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV, than waiting for something that may not look heaps better... and if it does, I'll buy a 1080 native set when they're cheap enough..

While we may feel like the world of HD technology is advancing at breakneck speed (which still isn't fast enough for some!!), for the 'Average Joe', they couldn't give two craps whether they had native 1080 or not.... They just want a TV set that will 'work'. No need to do anything other than turn the bludger on and watch the pretty pictures.

When 'Average Joes' dip their toes into buying a new TV, they'll buy something affordable, that works now and with PQ that looks good to their eyes.

So, while it's nice to dream of where this technology appears to be heading and how soon, I'd prefer to be a little cautious. Retailers sure ain't gonna love some-one telling them to trash all their current stock, just to replace it with the next "big thing". The financial bottom line is what drives corporations in this level of technology. I'm sure they really don't want to see their investment in 720i/p capable devices with 1080 scaling just vanish before their eyes.

Steven White April 23rd, 2005 08:33 PM

So you wouldn't buy a current device that may well do an outstanding job of scaling 1080 to the devices native resolution?

Hm... let's check out my current current system:

http://s94963366.onlinehome.us/HDRFX1/spiffsetup.jpg

Eek. I guess the answer is a definitive "no" considering my 13" television hasn't even been upgraded to a halfway decent SD CRT. I can wait. I can usually settle for pure crud until I'm sure I'm getting exactly what I want.

Ken Hodson April 25th, 2005 12:30 AM

Considering you settle for that, any 720p TV should exceed all of you expectations for the next 20 years. I see you had no problems adapting to modern sound HD.

Kevin Shaw April 25th, 2005 06:53 PM

"you could take a VHS image and interpolate it up to 1080i, and say it's a high definition image..."

You could, but that would be fraudulently deceitful, since it wouldn't contain an HD level of source detail. However, some videographers have already threatened to do just this to try to get around having to buy any kind of HD camcorder. Bad idea.

"I think the factor that outweighs 720p or 1080i is the ability of the camera operator and the controls of the camera they're working with. Indeed, these factors can also bring the quality of DV above any HD format, if you've put a good DV camera with great controls in the hands of an expert, and the HD camera is being operated by a lesser person. "

While that's ultimately true in terms of the content, I doubt anyone will confuse SD source material with HD/HDV source when played on a proper HDTV display. Or to put this another way, does anyone here really believe that you could pass off a 640x480 still image when compared side-by-side with a 1920x1080 still image? For any subject with any real detail it it?

Graeme Nattress April 25th, 2005 07:07 PM

Although, I just read in the latest issue of HiFi News, an article by Barry Fox on a big "HD" event by Sony in London UK. They showed lots of wonderful HD material and wowed the audience with how good HD looked. Only later did Barry find out that Sony had not used an HD projector, and the image everyone thought was HD, was barely above SD in resolution.

Graeme

Luis Caffesse April 25th, 2005 08:33 PM

That's classic Graeme!
You just made my night with that story.
:)

Kevin Shaw April 25th, 2005 08:42 PM

That is a good story, but it still doesn't address what's going to happen when people start seeing true HD output and then comparing that to SD content on their own HDTVs. I only have to show a few seconds of HDV footage to get people to sit up and take notice.

Steve Crisdale April 25th, 2005 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graeme Nattress
Although, I just read in the latest issue of HiFi News, an article by Barry Fox on a big "HD" event by Sony in London UK. They showed lots of wonderful HD material and wowed the audience with how good HD looked. Only later did Barry find out that Sony had not used an HD projector, and the image everyone thought was HD, was barely above SD in resolution.

Graeme

Hey!! It's not so funny... well not really...er, maybe a little bit.

I remember going to a big Electronics Expo with some people who knew I had HD gear, and they were pointing out SD stuff as though it was HD.

I came to the realisation that there's massive numbers of people out there who haven't realised that they're blind yet!! They couldn't spot a nuance if it sat up spat in their faces... (of course you must know what a nuance is to be able to spot one!!)

So for the majority of the population EDTV, SD digital WS are better to their poor unconditioned eyes and 1080 would appear to be no advantage despite it's extra expense.

Whilst my eyesight may be deteriorating given my now advancing years...It'll take decades before my eyesight would ever be bad enough to accept upsampled crap as the 'Real McCoy'.

Luis Caffesse April 25th, 2005 09:08 PM

"I came to the realisation that there's massive numbers of people out there who haven't realised that they're blind yet!!"

I completely agree.
Not only that, I think we underestimate how little the majority of people know/care about these issues.

Many of the people I know were under the impression that DVDs were HD until I told them differently.

Graeme Nattress April 26th, 2005 07:00 AM

It's practically impossible to tell SD and HD apart on a small screen, and in the article I mentioned, the writer was sitting at the back of the room and couldn't see anything wrong with the image - because the large projection screen was far away and appeared small.

HD is only better than a lower resolution format if you're sitting up close to the screen, or the screen is big.

Now what makes things worse is that most people have small screens that they sit a fair distance away from, and in that situation, even if they put in a HDTV instead of their SDTV, they'd not see any benefit.

What would provide a better picture for the majority of viewers is lower compression on digital transmissions and more care taken in the production chain to optomize picture quality. Again, better quality SD would benefit the vast majority of viewers more than HD.

That's why the adoption of HD will be driven by the home cinema crowd - those with the video projectors and big screens, and they want a HD disc they can view HD material with.

Graeme

Thomas Smet April 26th, 2005 09:09 AM

Once again I have to agree with Graeme. I think even many of us pros have a hard time telling what is going on with HD resolution. Look at the SONY Z1 for example. I think it is a great camera and does have a very good picture on a TV and I might still be getting two of them depending on what happens with the Panasonic camera by October. The fact though is that the camera only does 960 x 1080 interlaced. If you are watching on a LCD or plasma that will get de-interlaced giving you somewhere between 540 and 1080 lines depending on who you argue with. I actually think it is more like 540 since every other line is basically fake. So in terms of raw progressive pixel detail we only get 960 x 540 which isn't all that much higher than SD. Just like what Graeme said I think the reason the Z1 looks great (and it does) is because even many of us pros are not used to seeing that much detail. Some people say the Z1 looks just as good as a Cinealta camera but I do not agree. I think to most of us it does look as good because we can't really tell right now. I always use the example of when the SONY VX1000 came out. Before all we had to use were analog cameras. Most of us in that price range were using S-VHS. The VX1000 being digital blew us away. All of a sudden that camera looked better than a 1/2" S-VHS camera. Now today if we look back at the quality of the VX1000 we just think its decent. A better example is the Canon XL1. The chips are smaller on that camera compared to other 3 chip cameras. When it first came out everybody loved the picture quality. A lot of people still do. By todays standards however most of us can now see the softness and small lack of detail of the Canon XL1.

The Canon XL1 is still SD DV but it does use smaller chips. Just like how the SONY Z1 is still HD HDV and uses smaller chips. The fact though is that we can tell the XL1 isn't as good as a 2/3" camera where we have a harder time between the Z1 and a Cinealta camera. I do not think many of us are sensitive enough to tell just yet between images that are 1280x720 or 1920x1080. Unless as Graeme pointed out we are watching on an 80" TV. Of course on a Plasma or LCd we will hit the pixel limits of that device before we will the format.

Color space and compression stand out more than resolution to me right now. Heck I even like those EDTV sets. They actually look very nice at 42" even though they are only SD. This is why I always felt there should be an HD format that gives us 853 x 480 but with 4:4:4 color and very little compression. To me right now watching that kind of video on a 42" EDTV would be pretty good.

My whole point to this retarted post is that if we pros think a 960x1080i camera gives us just as good HD then what do the consumers of the world think? I mean we only recently convinced them that DVD was much better for the extra cost.

Graeme Nattress April 26th, 2005 09:19 AM

Well, I can see 4:4:4 1920x1080 on my LCD, so that's not a limiting factor. CRTs are now the limiting factor - they really "gloss" over details. I tell people about the 3D graphics I did for Panavision for NAB 2001, and that at the time, I didn't have the rendering power to do 1920x1080, so I did them 3/4 resolution. I could tell the difference in After Effects on my cinema display, but after going to HDCAM tape and being displayed on a Cinealta CRT monitor, you couldn't tell that I'd not rendered at full resolution. The CRT monitor also made it hard to tell the difference between keying live off the camera at 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 compared to keying off the HDCAM tape at 3:1:1. I could just about tell the difference, but I was watching the footage on a loop all day long....

Graeme

Barry Green April 26th, 2005 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graeme Nattress
That's why the adoption of HD will be driven by the home cinema crowd - those with the video projectors and big screens, and they want a HD disc they can view HD material with.

That and sports. Football and basketball really benefit from the HD experience.

Kevin Shaw April 26th, 2005 10:31 PM

Thomas: your numbers are questionable because (a) the Sony HDV cameras use pixel shift to generate 1440 horizontal pixels during recording, and (b) the issue of "faking" half the lines due to interlacing should be compared to SD cameras recording at a measly 480i resolution.

In any case, all the numbers are moot once you play HDV footage on an HDTV, and it's definitely good enough to get people's attention. I suspect it will be a very long time before most consumers can tell the difference between HDV footage and anything better on typical HDTVs, but they can all immediately see the difference between HDV and SD. That's what will make the HDV format a success, in spite of its limitations and competition from more expensive options.

Regarding the original subject of this thread, I doubt most consumers will be able to tell the difference between 1080i and 720p footage, especially as we move increasingly toward progressive-scan TVs.

Paul Rickford April 27th, 2005 04:14 AM

I have no idea of the resolution or if indeed I am watching 'true' 1080 HDV taken on my FX1 projected 7ft wide with a Sony HS20 LCD projector, all I know is that the image knocks my socks off! The detail, smooth colours make the image come alive, I can't stop watching it!
I'm now having a problem watching standard DV which up to a few weeks ago I would have said looked OK, now it looks terrible (as an aside I would say that the standard DV or Hdv converted to standard DV taken on the FX1 at this projected size does not hold up quite as well as footage taken on my VX2100)
So however those resolution figures may stack up Sony have killed DV for me, as one of my friends said 'WOW - MOVING SLIDES, how did you do that?'

Paul

Richard Firnges April 29th, 2005 04:43 AM

I share i different view
 
Hello,

this is a very good discussion, but I think one important point in this debate has not been mentioned yet. Most Members seem to see the question 1080i or 760p only from the back of the camera and from the momantary situation. I for myself do video only as a hobby, mainly I am a movie fan. And from that point of view I think at the moment 1080i is the better way to go.
Why? That is easy - For distributing existing movies I see no advantage in 60p (or 50p in Pal – Countries, where I live) since all existing movies are 24p (or 25p in Pal distribution). Especially in Pal Countries where no 2/3 pulldown for framerate conversion is needed, it is very easy to deinterlace the 50i to 25p because the source is progressive. So the reserved bandwith for 60p broadcast is wasted on repeating each frame twice (or you broadcast in 720p with 25p in Pal, I don't kmow how they will do it in 60 Hz Counties, because as far as I know 2/3 Pulldown will work only with 60p or 60i)
From my own experiences I do know that interlacing has its problems, especially in editing. But if we go to 720p right now. I think a future migration to 1080p (with 50 or 60 Frames) will never happen. But if we go to 1080i know, a migration to 1080p will be feasible.

Greatings

Richard

Graeme Nattress April 29th, 2005 05:30 AM

But.... 24p is part of the HDTV specifications, is it not, so that a broadcaster could send out 24p as whole frames now and not have to add pulldown frames?? I don't knwo if any do that, but it's part of the spec.

The problem is, that 1080p done currently, is embedded as part of an interlaced 1080i signal, and therefore, the chances are, that it has been filtered as any interlaced signal would be, and therefore has no more vertical resolution than 720p, even though it's carrying a progressive signal.

1080p would be super - as would 4k in the home, but to see the full benefit of 1080p you'd need either a very large screen, or be sitting rather close to your normal sixed screen, and I don't think either is much of a reality for most of the population. It would be great for the home cinema fan, but that would be about it.

Graeme

Richard Firnges April 29th, 2005 06:24 AM

Hello Graeme,

of course 4k or even 2k would be better as 1k or 0,7k. But we have to keep in mind that once a standard is established it will stay for some decades. So I fashion a TV - norm that has some room for further developments. This room I see in 1080i but not in 720p. This format, as good as it might be to SD (Pal or NTSC) in comparison, is in my eyes a little bit to fixed on the today but not on tomorrow. Im quite sure that in only half a decade 1080p will be feasible.
Of course it would be a poor design if the displays don’t recognise a 25p Signal that ist embedded in a 50i format und don‘t a proper deinterlacing.

Richard

Graeme Nattress April 29th, 2005 06:54 AM

Well, all HD displays are progressive these days. Nobody is really making CRTs any more, and they can't display anywhere near HD resolution anyway. That's why any interlaced format is just plain daft. For interlace to work (read earlier in this thread) it has to be filtered vertically, which means that even if you embed 25p in 50i it still won't have full 1080p vertical rez, but only 1080i vertical rez or it would flicker on any 1080i display (which are still around) so it doesn't offer any more real vertical resolution than 720p. And because 720p being progressive, compresses better than 1080i and as it uses less pixels, for the same bandwidth you get a better overall picture. Also, 720p will, arguably, not be any worse off than 1080i for uprez to full 1080p.

Progressive really is the way to go, and if we have to go with a smaller "resolution" in 720p than the bigger number of 1080i, that's not going to mean worse pictures in the home and will not impede any move to full 1080p.

And yes, going 1080p from the get-go would be better still. But really, the problem is broadcasters, and the lack of quality in digital transmissions. There's very little point in "getting HDTV" if all you can see is macroblocks, quilting and mosquitos.

Graeme

Richard Firnges April 29th, 2005 07:56 AM

Hallo Graeme,

to make it clear: I definetly prefer progressive over interlaced, that is out of question. But I see for the MOMENT a better perspective for 1080i as an IINTERMEDIATE step to 1080p.
When I compare DVB – S oder DVB T with DVDs I definetly see large differences in picture quality. If You only count pixels the should be none. Broadcasters tend to sacrifice datarate (quality) for more Channels (The call it „content“). I have seen DVB – T broadcasts that have had VCD –Quality. Even most DVDs You can buy are sloppy encoded if You stretch SD to its limits. And that is the main reason I argue for a bigger format: Providers (TV Stations and Disc Providers) tend to be sloppy, because sloppy usually means cheap. If You have a system that is actually too big for most uses, at least You don’t suffer too much as a consumer under this sloppiness. If You watch a very good DVD and compare it with the usual TV - broadcast (analog or digital) you will see a big difference. I think it will be the same with HDTV. Most of the people in this forum work with good equipment and try to produce good quality. But the question is, what will be delivered to the consumer. As an engineer I know that it is easier to archive „good“ results in „rich“ environments. To do the same thing within a smaller frame needs much more skill. For this reason in consumer reality the difference between progressive and interlaced, 720p or 1080i is more academic than of real meaning. Ouf course there will be oustanding products but the average will be 50 % under the possible limit....
That may sound silly, but we need the bigger format to compensate for the sloppiness of the providers. Therefore I would prefer to wait until 1080p is feasible or accept 1080i as an intermediate format that makes migration to 1080p easier

Richard

Graeme Nattress April 29th, 2005 08:41 AM

But 720p, being more compact (and 1080i having no more real vertical detail) does compress easier than 1080i, and hence will provide a better picture in the home for the same data rate.

Indeed, a bigger format will mean more compression and less quality to the viewers at home. And 1080i takes more data than 720p but does not offer any real, meaningful quality improvement due to interlace being a very sloppy form of compression.

Personally, I'd argue that using MPEG2, you'd get a better image, overall giving 10mbps to and SD broadcast (anamorphic widescreen, of course) over twice that datarate (ie 20mbps) to a 1080 HD broadcast, and 90% of people would benefit from the improved SD picture (ie, those who don't have an HDTV). As you say, many SD digital broadcasts are VCD quality, and quite frankly, that's not acceptable, but by the same argument, an over compressed HD image would be better replaced for the vast majority of viewers by improved SD broadcasts at full DVD maximum quality.

Graeme

Barry Green April 29th, 2005 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graeme Nattress
But.... 24p is part of the HDTV specifications, is it not, so that a broadcaster could send out 24p as whole frames now and not have to add pulldown frames??

720/24p and 1080/24p are both accepted broadcast standards as defined by the ATSC.

Steve Crisdale April 29th, 2005 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graeme Nattress

Personally, I'd argue that using MPEG2, you'd get a better image, overall giving 10mbps to and SD broadcast (anamorphic widescreen, of course) over twice that datarate (ie 20mbps) to a 1080 HD broadcast, and 90% of people would benefit from the improved SD picture (ie, those who don't have an HDTV). As you say, many SD digital broadcasts are VCD quality, and quite frankly, that's not acceptable, but by the same argument, an over compressed HD image would be better replaced for the vast majority of viewers by improved SD broadcasts at full DVD maximum quality.

Graeme

That's the dilemma that Australia now faces. We have a current Parliamentary committee looking into the 'Slow uptake of Digital TV'.

It's becoming very clear, that if the broadcasters - for whatever reason ends up being used to justify their actions - degrade the data-rate to the point where consumers (not afficiandos) can't see a verifiable advantage to DTV; let alone HDTV, purchases of 'old technology' display units will continue.

Without the display units capable of displaying even the level of 1080i in the majority of a nation's homes, why would any DTV provider worry about pandering to the outcries from the Early Adopters, when those precious few who can, perceive how poor the service being provided has become. Early HD broadcasts here in Oz looked amazing, because the signal stream was being pumped much closer to the full data-rate... but that has gradually changed, with piggy-backed program streams and the data streams and interconnectivity for those with the appropriate STB and hand controller... Band width after all is something the broadcasters have paid for, so they need a commercial return.

The average Joe out there doesn't give a deuce of rat's droppings about how good the game looks on his analog set that he "ain't gonna sell 'cause some smarmy suited sales-guy tells me this is better than what you got at the moment....sir". He does want to see all the news and sports results running across the bottom or top of screen though... so the broadcaster provides that service for them, and as part of the bandwidth allocation, that extra stream has to come from somewhere.

Strangely enough, advertisers want to put their money where the greatest return is, and while we HD early adopters may honestly believe that's us!... I got news.... It ain't us. Until the percentage of TV owning homes that have HDTV displays is around the 40>50% mark, HD technology advances will most likely tread water, or be incrementally added. 1080p would be one of the last elements to be implemented, and it's viability to the majority of TV viewing households even if/when 1080i capability reaches saturation would be even more doubtful.

The fact is... some parts of the HD video delivery chain are far more advanced than others, and that seems to accent the gap between the links that like our HDV camera capabilities, cost, options and availability; represent HD acceptance and above expectation realization of outcome... while the uptake of DTV and HDTV display devices represents the completely converse.

Until the 'average' consumer has a HDTV set up in their lounge, we who argue about the advantage of 720p over 1080i and vice-versa will provide entertainment value for visitors to the forum; but it'll be as relevant to reality as much political debate is, i.e. Diddly-squat relevance!!

I believe those who presently own a HDV camcorder have an opportunity to at least circumvent one of the major qualifiers being thrown about as a reason for poor PQ and data-rates of Aussie DTV/HDTV. "Not enough HD content" is the most common anthem being trumpetted. Well, if they have the content because HD10u or FX-1/Z1 shooters are providing it, they ain't got no excuse.

So rather than huff and puff about is 720p or 1080i better... how's about shooting HDV regardless of whether it's 1080 or 720 and get the stuff to a broad-bloody-caster and maybe the HD revolution can be truly ascribed to the abilities of those who realised the promise. Nah... what am I thinking!! George Lucas, or maybe Jimmy Cameron deserve the sole credit for the HD viewing revolution... because they're visionaries!!!

Richard Firnges May 2nd, 2005 02:41 AM

Of course at the moment 720p (especially with 24 or 25 fps for movie broadcast) is more feasible then 1080 (i or p). If we take MPEG2 Pal - DVDs for example: You need bitrates between 6 and 8 mbs (without sound) for the best quality. So the bitrate of the FX1 which works with 25 mbs is in the same area. For full 1080 at 25 fps you need therefore at least 30 mbs bandwith (or more). For 720 with 25p ( not 50p!) the equivalent would be 15 mbs. So from this point you are probably getting a better overall picture with 720 if you only consider broadcast bandwidth. But there will also be disc storage like blue ray. And for this kind of media the storage of 1080 movies ist doable.
I for myself doubt that TV stations are really willing to provide quality (That‘s why I gave up watching movies on TV). Not even in 720p. The don‘t do it today in SD, why should they do it in HDTV? In comparison their „HDTV“ probably would‘t be much better than the best anamorphic SD from DVDs. So from a practical point of view Broadcast - TV will always be inferior to discs (or whatever the media will be). Of course it will be better than broadcast SD....

But on discs we can have in a foreseeable future enough storage room for the high bitrates. Downconvering is always easier than the other way Therefore wie should aim now for the larger picture. With a large enough frame and a high enough bitrate we would have a system where don’t work on the limits. An we shold never forget that als existing movies are 24p, so 720p with 50 or 60 fps is not the optimum since the higher timeresolution is not needed.

Greetings Richard

Shannon Rawls May 2nd, 2005 08:53 AM

the HVX200 should have eliminated this discussion.

*smile*

- Shannon W. Rawls

Steve Crisdale May 2nd, 2005 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shannon Rawls
the HVX200 should have eliminated this discussion.

*smile*

- Shannon W. Rawls

Are you saying Shannon, that the HVX200 would have settled the arguement of which is beyond any doubt, reasoning or blind faith, the superior format?

Isn't that a little like saying science should have settled the discussion on evolution? ;)

Besides; you know how much fun it is to watch all the different reactions to something that gets posted!! :)

If there weren't followers of either camp... imagine how dull it would be around here!!

Shannon Rawls May 2nd, 2005 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Crisdale
Besides; you know how much fun it is to watch all the different reactions to something that gets posted!! :)

HA!! ain't that the truth! *smile*

I'm sayin the HVX200 will allow people to have the best of both worlds. *CHEESE*

Mercedes Benz or BMW???

Nobody could decide which was better, so I got a Lexus. *smile*

MAC or PC???

Nobody could decide which was better, so I got em both!

720p or 1080i????

heck...just buy a HVX200!!!!

*smile*

- Shannon W. Rawls

Tommy James May 9th, 2005 12:11 PM

720p vs 1080i vs 1500i
 
JVC knew that when they introduced the worlds first consumer high definition video camera that there would be the naysayers who would claim that 720p is not real high definition so at the same time they introduced their line of 1500i super high definition televisions that upconvert all signals 720p and 1080i to 1500i. Note that this became the perfect compliment for JVC HD camcorders because 1440i is the native upconversion of 720p.

Javier Gallen July 25th, 2005 05:30 PM

The fact is that, if you grab a frame from a movie in a 1080i HDTV, and then downsize to 720p and resize it back again to 1080i the result is two IDENTICAL images.

That makes me think...

Ken Hodson July 25th, 2005 06:26 PM

Well 1080 is a bit of an anomaly in that except for the most recent CineAlta's, no cam was actually capturing that resolution. So to choose it as a broadcast standard makes little sense to me. As well all but the most recent consumer PC's had a hard time even working with footage of that high resolution. In fact if it wasn't for the archaic adoption of interlace, this format would still be largely unusable even now.
Its 2005 and we still have people trumpeting an interlaced format? Ya got me!

Tommy James July 25th, 2005 08:09 PM

The reason why Sony promotes 1080i is because 1080i is a bigger number than 720p so 1080i sells more cameras. Sony's support of 1080i has nothing to do with picture quality. So far it has been a very sucessfull strategy but Sony knows that it wont be able to get away with interlace forever so soon they will start promoting 1080p.

Javier Gallen July 26th, 2005 04:20 AM

Quote:

The reason why Sony promotes 1080i is because 1080i is a bigger number than 720p so 1080i sells more cameras. Sony's support of 1080i has nothing to do with picture quality. So far it has been a very sucessfull strategy but Sony knows that it wont be able to get away with interlace forever so soon they will start promoting 1080p.
Good point.

Until we have 1080p, i'll be more interested on 720p.

Thomas Smet July 26th, 2005 05:55 AM

Ok guys I am doing a test right now to compare 720p and 1080i. This test is in no way what to expect from specific cameras but is to give a general idea of detail with the formats.

I created a scene in 3D Studio Max with objects of fairly high detail. I then rendered as 1280x720 uncompressed and again as 1440x1080 interlaced uncompressed.

I next took those images and brought them into Shake to compare scaling results to match the footage. What I have found so far is what Graeme has been trying to say. There is almost no difference in detail between 1280x720 scaled up to 1440x1080p and 1440x1080i deinterlaced to 1080p. Depending on how you deinterlace and scale the 720p image is actually a little sharper. The 720p also has the advanatge of not having any aliased edges because of deinterlacing. Even with the sharpness the same the 1080i version has blocky edges on thin details which at least to me makes the 720p look overall slightly better. They are however very close and only the most anal engineer would be able to tell. It may even be harder to tell on an actuall TV. For film out however those steppy edges could show up a little bit more on the 1080i. 720p gives a clean even image.

At this point I would say the "only" advantage 1080i has over 720p HDV is the 60 frame per second motion. If your target is film or simulated film then this doesn't matter.

This test of course does not take into consideration lens quality and other factors that dumb up the image from the camera. If a 1/3" lens can't handle more than 1280x720 anyways then the results from this test would be even better in favor of the 720p. "If" the lens on a specific camera actually can deal with the native resolution of that camera then this test still proves there isn't much difference between the two current formats.

I will try to post results of this test later. I am currently working on a 3D resolution chart to render out the different formats.

Kevin Dooley July 26th, 2005 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet
At this point I would say the "only" advantage 1080i has over 720p HDV is the 60 frame per second motion.

While it has yet to be implemented in an HDV product (other than the new JVC's uncompressed outs), 720/60p is a recognized standard for HD and more specifically is called for in the HDV specs... this negates 1080i's advantage, as 720/60p should be as sharp (or sharper) than 1080/60i for the reasons you've already stated....

Mark Grant July 26th, 2005 07:53 AM

Quote:

There is almost no difference in detail between 1280x720 scaled up to 1440x1080p and 1440x1080i deinterlaced to 1080p.
Good for you. Now, rather than throwing away half of the resolution of your 1080i footage, try watching it on a 1080i display, or deinterlace the fields and play them at twice the frame rate.

Why is anyone in their right mind going to choose to deinterlace 1080i footage just to make 720p look better? 1080i/30 vs 720p/30 will give you 70% more pixels on an interlaced display or 85% of the pixels _and twice the frame-rate_ on a progressive display.

About the only reason I can see to deinterlace would be to output to film. So why are you even comparing it that way?

Thomas Smet July 26th, 2005 08:23 AM

yes film out is exactly right. My whole point along with a good portion of this thread is comparing 720p to 1080i in terms of getting a 1080p.

I was not saying that 1080i is bad but actually saying that they are both just as good as each other. I even stated that if you like the higher framerate motion of 60i then 1080i has the clear advantage. If however you prefer progressive footage then 720p may have the advantage.

1080i also gives you the advantage of creating a 720p 60p. That however doesn't mean anything if you are shooting 24p. There is no such thing as 48p for double framerate 24p.


It is going to be tough in my opinion to get a 60p HDV format as we know it right now. To jump from 30p to 60p would require double the bandwidth. That would mean a datarate of at least 38 Mbits/s if you wanted to keep the same level of quality as 30p. Current DV tapes would have a hard time dealing with 38 to 50 Mbits/s. The only way I could see a 60p HDV version would either be to hard drive only, new tape format, or double the compression level. Those extra 30 frames per second have to go somewhere. Bumping up to 25Mbits/s for 60p in my opinion would not be enough to handle double the data.

Greg Boston July 26th, 2005 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet
It is going to be tough in my opinion to get a 60p HDV format as we know it right now. To jump from 30p to 60p would require double the bandwidth. That would mean a datarate of at least 38 Mbits/s if you wanted to keep the same level of quality as 30p. Current DV tapes would have a hard time dealing with 38 to 50 Mbits/s. The only way I could see a 60p HDV version would either be to hard drive only, new tape format, or double the compression level. Those extra 30 frames per second have to go somewhere. Bumping up to 25Mbits/s for 60p in my opinion would not be enough to handle double the data.

You forgot to mention P2 technology, writing to flash memory in a raid configuration which could very well give 60p capabilities in the not too distant future. Where technology is concerned, "never say never" is my mantra. After all, there were many in the early 1980's who said we would 'never' be able to go faster than 1200 baud on standard copper wire phone lines. And yet, I am sitting here typing over a 1.5mbs up/3mbs+ down phone line. My line has been tested and could handle close to 6mbs.

Just food for thought.

-gb-

Thomas Smet July 26th, 2005 11:58 AM

I was using the term hard drive to mean any other type of recording other than tape. This could include P2, Hard Drive, Optical media, direct capture from firewire.

My main point is that with tape itself it will be hard to get 60p. It can happen it just will not be as easy.

Greg Boston July 26th, 2005 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet
I was using the term hard drive to mean any other type of recording other than tape. This could include P2, Hard Drive, Optical media, direct capture from firewire.

My main point is that with tape itself it will be hard to get 60p. It can happen it just will not be as easy.

Gotcha! Just one of those little communication glitches. I thought you literally were speaking of hard drive only. Yeah, for now, tape is pretty much out of the question until they figure out a way to make head gap smaller and/or tape transport faster.

-gb-


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