High-definition (HD) video
High-definition
(HD) video refers to any video format with pixel dimensions greater
than those of standard-definition (SD) video formats.
Typically, standard-definition refers to digital formats
with pixel dimensions close to those of analog TV standards, such
as NTSC and PAL (around 480 or 576 vertical lines, respectively).
The most common HD formats have pixel dimensions of 1280x720 or 1920x1080,
with a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9.
HD video formats include interlaced and noninterlaced varieties.
Typically, the highest-resolution formats are interlaced at the
higher frame rates, because noninterlaced video at these pixel dimensions
would require a prohibitively high data rate.
You can reap benefits from shooting and editing in high-definition
formats even if you output to standard definition. For example,
the quality of high-definition clips remains high when you zoom
into them or pan across them in the context of standard-definition
projects.
HD video formats are designated by their vertical pixel dimensions,
scan mode, and frame or field rate (depending on the scan mode).
For example, 1080i60 denotes interlaced scanning
of 60 interlaced 1920x1080 fields per second, whereas 720p30 denotes
progressive scanning of 30 noninterlaced 1280x720 frames per second.
In both cases, the frame rate is approximately 30 frames per second.
David Van Brink shows an excellent example on his omino pixel blog of why shooting in
a high-definition format is useful even for standard-definition delivery,
because the extra pixels give you a lot of room for synthetic (fake) camera
work, such as zooms and pans in post-production.
Trish and Chris Meyer provide tips for planning and delivering
high-definition and widescreen work in articles on the ProVideo
Coalition website:
Adobe digital video applications include presets
that are designed for working with various high-definition formats.
Some of the most common high-definition video formats you may encounter
include the following:
High-definition video recording formats
- AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition)
- High-definition format based on an MPEG-4 AVC video codec
for file-based (tapeless) cameras. AVCHD was introduced by Sony
and Panasonic. For more information about AVCHD, see the article AVCHD on
the Wikipedia website.
- DVCPRO HD or DVCPRO100
- Panasonic’s high-definition variant of its DVCPRO format,
which also includes DVCPRO25 and DVCPRO50. Whereas DVCPRO25 and DVCPRO50
support data rates of 25 Mbits/s (megabits per second) and 50 Mbit/s, respectively,
DVCPRO HD supports a data rate of 100 Mbit/s, from which it gets its
other name, DVCPRO100. DVCPRO HD footage can be captured
to Panasonic P2 media. For more information about DVCPRO HD, see
the DVCPRO section of the article DV on
the Wikipedia website.
- HDCAM
- Sony’s high-definition version of its Digital Betacam format.
A variant called HDCAM SR uses a tape with a higher
particle density to record video with greater color sampling and
at higher bit rates. However, HDCAM SR is supported by decks only,
and not camcorders. For more information about HDCAM and HDCAM SR,
see the article HDCAM on the Wikipedia website.
- XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX
- High-definition formats developed by Sony for file-based
(tapeless) cameras. For more information about XDCAM HD and XDCAM
EX, see the article XDCAM on the Wikipedia website.
- HDV
- Developed jointly by several companies, HDV employs a form
of MPEG‑2 compression to enable high-definition video to be encoded
onto standard miniDV cassette media. For more information about
HDV, see the article HDV on the Wikipedia website.
High-definition codecs
- H.264
- An MPEG-4-based
codec that supports encoding in high definition for Blu-ray Disc
media, and the FLV |F4V formats. For more information about H.264, see
the article H.264/MPEG-4 AVC on the Wikipedia
website.
- v210
- An uncompressed codec that supports encoding in high definition
at 10-bit 4:2:2 in component YCbCr. Supported by the Uncompressed
Microsoft AVI format.
- UYVY
- A codec that supports encoding in high definition in YUV
4:2:2. Supported by the Uncompressed Microsoft AVI format.
- MPEG2
- A codec
that supports encoding in high-definition for Blu-ray Disc. File extensions:
.m2v, .wav (audio only).
- VC-1
- A codec that supports encoding in high-definition for Windows
Media Video. For more information about VC-1, see the article VC-1 on
the Wikipedia website.
- Windows Media Video 9
- A codec that supports encoding in high-definition for Windows
Media Video. For more information about Windows Media 9, see the article Windows Media Video on the Wikipedia
website.
