High-definition

video

High-definition video is video of higher

resolution and quality than standard-
definition. While there is no standardized
meaning for high-definition, generally any
video image with considerably more than
480 vertical lines (North America) or 576
vertical lines (Europe) is considered high-
definition. 480 scan lines is generally the
minimum even though the majority of
systems greatly exceed that. Images of
standard resolution captured at rates
faster than normal (60 frames/second
North America, 50 fps Europe), by a high-
speed camera may be considered high-
definition in some contexts. Some
television series shot on high-definition
video are made to look as if they have
been shot on film, a technique which is
often known as filmizing.

History
The first electronic scanning format, 405
lines, was the first "high definition"
television system, since the mechanical
systems it replaced had far fewer. From
1939, Europe and the US tried 605 and
441 lines until, in 1941, the FCC
mandated 525 for the US. In wartime
France, René Barthélemy tested higher
resolutions, up to 1,042. In late 1949,
official French transmissions finally
began with 819. In 1984, however, this
standard was abandoned for 625-line
color on the TF1 network.

1980s

Modern HD specifications date to the

early 1980s, when Japanese engineers
developed the HighVision 1,125-line
interlaced TV standard (also called
MUSE) that ran at 60 frames per second.
The Sony HDVS system was presented at
an international meeting of television
engineers in Algiers, April 1981 and
Japan's NHK presented its analog HDTV
system at a Swiss conference in 1983.

The NHK system was standardized in the

United States as Society of Motion
Picture and Television Engineers
(SMPTE) standard #240M in the early
1990s, but abandoned later on when it
was replaced by a DVB analog standard.
HighVision video is still usable for HDTV
video interchange, but there is almost no
modern equipment available to perform
this function. Attempts at implementing
HighVision as a 6 MHz broadcast
channel were mostly unsuccessful. All
attempts at using this format for
terrestrial TV transmission were
abandoned by the mid-1990s.

Europe developed HD-MAC (1,250 lines,

50 Hz), a member of the MAC family of
hybrid analogue/digital video standards;
however, it never took off as a terrestrial
video transmission format. HD-MAC was
never designated for video interchange
except by the European Broadcasting
Union.

The current high-definition video

standards in North America were
developed during the course of the
advanced television process initiated by
the Federal Communications
Commission in 1987 at the request of
American broadcasters. In essence, the
end of the 1980s was a death knell for
most analog high definition technologies
that had developed up to that time.

1990s

The FCC process, led by the Advanced

Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
adopted a range of standards from
interlaced 1,080-line video (a technical
descendant of the original analog NHK
1125/30 Hz system) with a maximum
frame rate of 30 Hz, (60 fields per
second) and 720-line video, progressively
scanned, with a maximum frame rate of
60 Hz. In the end, however, the DVB
standard of resolutions (1080, 720, 480)
and respective frame rates (24, 25, 30)
were adopted in conjunction with the
Europeans that were also involved in the
same standardization process. The FCC
officially adopted the ATSC transmission
standard (which included both HD and
SD video standards) in 1996, with the
first broadcasts on October 28, 1998.

2000s

In the early 2000s, it looked as if DVB

would be the video standard far into the
future. However, both Brazil and China
have adopted alternative standards for
high-definition video that preclude the
interoperability that was hoped for after
decades of largely non-interoperable
analog TV broadcasting.

Technical details

This chart shows the most common display

resolutions, with the color of each resolution type
indicating the display ratio (e.g., red indicates a 4:3
ratio).
High definition video (prerecorded and
broadcast) is defined threefold, by:

The number of lines in the vertical

display resolution. High-definition
television (HDTV) resolution is 1,080 or
720 lines. In contrast, regular digital
television (DTV) is 480 lines (upon
which NTSC is based, 480 visible
scanlines out of 525) or 576 lines
(upon which PAL/SECAM are based,
576 visible scanlines out of 625).
However, since HD is broadcast
digitally, its introduction sometimes
coincides with the introduction of DTV.
Additionally, current DVD quality is not
high-definition, although the high-
definition disc systems Blu-ray Disc
and the HD DVD are.
The scanning system: progressive
scanning (p) or interlaced scanning (i).
Progressive scanning (p) redraws an
image frame (all of its lines) when
refreshing each image, for example
720p/1080p. Interlaced scanning (i)
draws the image field every other line
or "odd numbered" lines during the first
image refresh operation, and then
draws the remaining "even numbered"
lines during a second refreshing, for
example 1080i. Interlaced scanning
yields image resolution if subject is not
moving, but loses up to half of the
resolution and suffers "combing"
artifacts when subject is moving.
The number of frames or fields per
second (Hz). In Europe more common
(50 Hz) television broadcasting system
and in USA (60 Hz). The 720p60 format
is 1,280 × 720 pixels, progressive
encoding with 60 frames per second
(60 Hz). The 1080i50/1080i60 format
is 1920 × 1080 pixels, interlaced
encoding with 50/60 fields, (50/60 Hz)
per second. Two interlaced fields
formulate a single frame, because the
two fields of one frame are temporally
shifted. Frame pulldown and
segmented frames are special
techniques that allow transmitting full
 frames by means of interlaced video
stream.

Often, the rate is inferred from the

context, usually assumed to be either 50
Hz (Europe) or 60 Hz (USA), except for
1080p, which denotes 1080p24,
1080p25, and 1080p30, but also
1080p50 and 1080p60.

A frame or field rate can also be

specified without a resolution. For
example, 24p means 24 progressive scan
frames per second and 50i means 25
progressive frames per second,
consisting of 50 interlaced fields per
second. Most HDTV systems support
some standard resolutions and frame or
field rates. The most common are noted
below. High-definition signals require a
high-definition television or computer
monitor in order to be viewed. High-
definition video has an aspect ratio of
16:9 (1.78:1). The aspect ratio of regular
widescreen film shot today is typically
1.85:1 or 2.39:1 (sometimes traditionally
quoted at 2.35:1). Standard-definition
television (SDTV) has a 4:3 (1.33:1)
aspect ratio, although in recent years
many broadcasters have transmitted
programs "squeezed" horizontally in 16:9
anamorphic format, in hopes that the
viewer has a 16:9 set which stretches the
image out to normal-looking proportions,
or a set which "squishes" the image
vertically to present a "letterbox" view of
the image, again with correct
proportions.

Common high-definition
video modes
Frame size in Pixels per Scanning
Video mode Frame rate (Hz)
pixels (W×H) image1 type

720p (also known 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50,

1,280×720 921,600 Progressive
as HD Ready) 59.94, 60, 72

1080i (also known 25 (50 fields/s), 29.97 (59.94

1,920×1,080 2,073,600 Interlaced
as Full HD) fields/s), 30 (60 fields/s)

1080p (also known 24 (23.976), 25, 30 (29.97),

1,920×1,080 2,073,600 Progressive
as Full HD) 50, 60 (59.94)

1440p (also known 24 (23.976), 25, 30 (29.97),

2,560×1,440 3,686,400 Progressive
as Quad HD) 50, 60 (59.94)

Ultra high-definition video

modes
 Frame size in pixels Pixels per Scanning Frame rate
Video mode
(W×H) image1 type (Hz)

2000 2,048×1,536 3,145,728 Progressive 24, 60

2160p (also known as 4K

3,840×2,160 8,294,400 Progressive 60, 120
UHD)

2540p 4,520×2,540 11,480,800 Progressive 24, 30

4000p 4,096×3,072 12,582,912 Progressive 24, 30, 60

4320p (also known as 8K

7,680×4,320 33,177,600 Progressive 60, 120
UHD)

Note: 1 Image is either a frame or, in case

of interlaced scanning, two fields. (EVEN
and ODD)

Also, there are less common but still

popular UltraWide resolutions, such as
2560×1080p (1080p UltraWide).

HD content
High-definition image sources include
terrestrial broadcast, direct broadcast
satellite, digital cable, high definition disc
(BD), digital cameras, Internet
downloads, and video game consoles.

Most computers are capable of HD or

higher resolutions over VGA, DVI, HDMI
and/or DisplayPort.
The optical disc standard Blu-ray Disc
can provide enough digital storage to
store hours of HD video content.
Digital Versatile Discs or DVDs (that
hold 4.7 GB for a Single layer or 8.5 GB
for a Double layer), are not always up
to the challenge of today's high-
definition (HD) sets. Storing and
playing HD movies requires a disc that
holds more information, like a Blu-ray
Disc (which hold 25 GB in single layer
 form and 50 GB for double layer) or the
now defunct High Definition Digital
Versatile Discs (HD DVDs) which held
15 GB or 30 GB in, respectively, single
and double layer variations.

Blu-ray Discs were jointly developed by 9

initial partners including Sony and
Phillips (which jointly developed CDs for
audio), and Pioneer (which developed its
own Laser-disc previously with some
success) among others. HD-DVD discs
were primarily developed by Toshiba and
NEC with some backing from Microsoft,
Warner Bros., Hewlett Packard, and
others. On February 19, 2008 Toshiba
announced it was abandoning the format
and would discontinue development,
marketing and manufacturing of HD-DVD
players and drives.

Types of recorded media

The high resolution photographic film

used for cinema projection is exposed at
the rate of 24 frames per second but
usually projected at 48, each frame
getting projected twice helping to
minimise flicker. One exception to this
was the 1986 National Film Board of
Canada short film Momentum, which
briefly experimented with both filming
and projecting at 48 frame/s, in a
process known as IMAX HD.
Depending upon available bandwidth and
the amount of detail and movement in
the image, the optimum format for video
transfer is either 720p24 or 1080p24.
When shown on television in PAL system
countries, film must be projected at the
rate of 25 frames per second by
accelerating it by 4.1 percent. In NTSC
standard countries, the projection rate is
30 frames per second, using a technique
called 3:2 pull-down. One film frame is
held for three video fields (1/20 of a
second), and the next is held for two
video fields (1/30 of a second) and then
the process is repeated, thus achieving
the correct film projection rate with two
film frames shown in 1/12 of a second.
Older (pre-HDTV) recordings on video
tape such as Betacam SP are often either
in the form 480i60 or 576i50. These may
be upconverted to a higher resolution
format (720i), but removing the interlace
to match the common 720p format may
distort the picture or require filtering
which actually reduces the resolution of
the final output.

Non-cinematic HDTV video recordings

are recorded in either the 720p or the
1080i format. The format used is set by
the broadcaster (if for television
broadcast). In general, 720p is more
accurate with fast action, because it
progressively scans frames, instead of
the 1080i, which uses interlaced fields
and thus might degrade the resolution of
fast images.

720p is used more for Internet

distribution of high-definition video,
because computer monitors
progressively scan; 720p video has lower
storage-decoding requirements than
either the 1080i or the 1080p. This is also
the medium for high-definition
broadcasts around the world and 1080p
is used for Blu-ray movies.

HD in filmmaking

Film as a medium has inherent

limitations, such as difficulty of viewing
footage while recording, and suffers
other problems, caused by poor film
development/processing, or poor
monitoring systems. Given that there is
increasing use of computer-generated or
computer-altered imagery in movies, and
that editing picture sequences is often
done digitally, some directors have shot
their movies using the HD format via
high-end digital video cameras. While the
quality of HD video is very high compared
to SD video, and offers improved
signal/noise ratios against comparable
sensitivity film, film remains able to
resolve more image detail than current
HD video formats. In addition some films
have a wider dynamic range (ability to
resolve extremes of dark and light areas
in a scene) than even the best HD
cameras. Thus the most persuasive
arguments for the use of HD are currently
cost savings on film stock and the ease
of transfer to editing systems for special
effects.

Depending on the year and format in

which a movie was filmed, the exposed
image can vary greatly in size. Sizes
range from as big as 24 mm × 36 mm for
VistaVision/Technirama 8 perforation
cameras (same as 35 mm still photo
film) going down through
18 mm × 24 mm for Silent Films or Full
Frame 4 perforations cameras to as
small as 9 mm × 21 mm in Academy
Sound Aperture cameras modified for the
Techniscope 2 perforation format.
Movies are also produced using other
film gauges, including 70 mm films
(22 mm × 48 mm) or the rarely used
55 mm and CINERAMA.

The four major film formats provide pixel

resolutions (calculated from pixels per
millimeter) roughly as follows:

Academy Sound (Sound movies before

1955): 15 mm × 21 mm (1.375) =
2,160 × 2,970
Academy camera US Widescreen:
11 mm × 21 mm (1.85) = 1,605 × 2,970
 Current Anamorphic Panavision
("Scope"): 17.5 mm × 21 mm (2.39) =
2,485 × 2,970
Super-35 for Anamorphic prints:
10 mm × 24 mm (2.39) = 1,420 × 3,390

In the process of making prints for

exhibition, this negative is copied onto
other film (negative → interpositive →
internegative → print) causing the
resolution to be reduced with each
emulsion copying step and when the
image passes through a lens (for
example, on a projector). In many cases,
the resolution can be reduced down to
1/6 of the original negative's resolution
(or worse). Note that resolution values
for 70 mm film are higher than those
listed above.

HD on the World Wide

Web/HD streaming

A number of online video streaming/on

demand and digital download services
offer HD video, among them YouTube,
Vimeo, Hulu, Amazon Video On Demand,
Netflix Watch Instantly, and others. Due
to heavy compression, the image detail
produced by these formats are far below
that of broadcast HD, and often even
inferior to DVD-Video (3-9 Mbit/s MP2)
upscaled to the same image size.[1] The
following is a chart of numerous online
services and their HD offering:

World Wide Web HD resolutions

 Highest Total bit Video bit Audio bit
Source Codec
resolution (W×H) rate/bandwidth rate rate

Amazon
[note 1]
VC-1[2] 1280×720[3] 2.5-6 Mbit/s
Video

BBC iPlayer H.264[4] 1280×720[5][note 2] 3.2 Mbit/s[4] 3 Mbit/s[4] 192 kbit/s[4]

2.25 Mbit/s
2.25 -
blinkbox 1280×720 (SD) and 192 kbit/s
4.5 Mbit/s
4.5 Mbit/s (HD)

Blockbuster
1280×720
Online

3.5 Mbit/s and
CBS.com/TV.com 1920×1080[6] 2.5 Mbits
(720p)[6]

DaCast VP6, H.264[7] Unknown 5 Mbit/s[8]

On2 Flash
Hulu 1280×720[10] 2.5 Mbit/s[11]
VP6[9]

FLV,
2 Mbit/s
QuickTime
iPlayerHD 1920×1080[13] and
H.264, MP4
5 Mbit/s[14]
H.264[12]

QuickTime
iTunes/Apple TV 1920×1080[15]
H.264[15]

MPEG-4, FLV,
MetaCDN OGG, WebM, No Limit[17]
3GP[16]

2.6 Mbit/s
Netflix Watch and
VC-1[18] 3840×2160[19] 25 Mbit/s[20]
Instantly 3.8 Mbit/s
(1080p)[21]

PlayStationStore
H.264/MPEG-
Movies & TV 1920×1080[22] 8 Mbit/s[22] 256 kbit/s[22]
4 AVC[22]
Shows

H.264, FLV,
StreamShark OGV, WebM, 1920×1080[24]
VP8, VP9[23]
Vimeo H.264[25] 1920×1080[26] 4 Mbit/s[27] 320 kbit/s[28]

Vudu H.264[29] 1920×1080[30] 4.5 Mbit/s[31]

Xbox Video[note 3] 1920×1080[32]

H.264/MPEG-
YouTube 7680×4320
4 AVC, VP9

1. Formerly "Amazon Unbox", which now

refers to a video player software, and later
"Amazon Video on Demand".
2. During live events "BBC iPlayer"
streams have a resolution of 1024×576.
3. Formerly "Xbox Live Marketplace Video
Store", but replaced by "Xbox Video" in
2012.

HD in video surveillance

An increasing number of manufacturers

of security cameras now offer HD
cameras. The need for high resolution,
color fidelity, and frame rate is acute for
surveillance purposes to ensure that the
quality of the video output is of an
acceptable standard that can be used
both for preventative surveillance as well
as for evidence purposes. These needs,
however, must be balanced against the
additional storage capacity required by
HD video.

HD in video gaming

Both the PlayStation 3 game console and

Xbox 360 can output native 1080p
through HDMI or component cables, but
the systems have few games which
appear in 1080p; most games only run
natively at 720p or less, but can be
upscaled to 1080p. The Wii can output
up to 480p (enhanced-definition) over
component, which while not HD, is very
useful for HDTVs as it avoids de-
interlacing artifacts. The Wii can also
output 576i in PAL regions.

Visually, native 1080p produces a

sharper and clearer picture compared to
upscaled 1080p. Though only a handful
of games available have the native
resolution of 1080p, all games on the
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 can be
upscaled up to this resolution. Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3 games are labeled with
the output resolution on the back of their
packaging, although on Xbox 360 this
indicates the resolution it will upscale to,
not the native resolution of the game.

Generally, PC games are only limited by

the display's resolution size. Drivers are
capable of supporting very high
resolutions, depending on the chipset of
the video card. Many game engines
support resolutions of 5760×1080 or
5760×1200 (typically achieved with three
1080p displays in a multi-monitor setup)
and nearly all will display 1080p at
minimum. 1440p and 4K are typically
supported resolutions for PC gaming as
well.

Currently all consoles, Nintendo's Wii U

and Nintendo Switch, Microsoft's Xbox
One, and PlayStation 4 display games
1080p natively. The Nintendo Switch is
an unusual case, due to its hybrid nature
as both a home console and a handheld:
the built-in screen displays games at
720p maximum, but the console can
natively display imagery at 1080p when
docked. PlayStation 4 is able to display in
4K, though strictly only for displaying
pictures.

See also
ATSC tuner
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)
DTV channel protection ratios
HD ready
 HDTV input and colorspace (YPbPr /
YCbCr)
Integrated Services Digital
Broadcasting
United States Federal Standard 1037C
Waveform monitor

References
1. "Why HD movie downloads are a big
lie" . Ziff-Davis. 2007-05-31. Retrieved
2010-06-28.
2. "Amazon.com -- News Release" .
Amazon.com. 2006-09-07. Retrieved
2009-10-16. “...using the ultra-efficient VC-
1 Advanced Profile codec.”
3. "Amazon.com: Help > Digital Products >
Amazon Video On Demand" .
Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-10-16. “Our
2.5 Mbps HD files are streamed in high-
quality 720p resolution.”
4. "What do I need to know about HD on
BBC iPlayer?" . BBC. “We use h.264 with a
bitrate of 3.2Mbps and 192kbps audio”
5. "What do I need to know about HD on
BBC iPlayer?" . BBC. “In order to be
classed as "true" high definition, we
encode in at least 1280x720 resolution, or
720p.”
6. "CBS.com - HD Video - System
Requirements" . CBS.com. Retrieved
2009-10-16.
7. "Streaming Service for Flash, RTMP,
H.264 & VP6" . DaCast. Retrieved
2011-11-30.
8. "Live Streaming Service" . DaCast.
Retrieved 2011-11-30.
9. "Hulu - About" . Hulu. Retrieved
2009-10-16. “Hulu videos are streamed as
Flash video files (FLV files). These files
are encoded using the On2 Flash VP6
codec...”
10. "Hulu - About" . Hulu. Retrieved
2009-10-16. “HD videos on Hulu are
streamed at 1280 x 720 resolution.”
11. "Hulu - About" . Hulu. Retrieved
2009-10-16. “Hulu currently supports four
different streams including 480kbps,
700kbps, 1,000kbps (an H.264 encode
that is not on On2 VP6) and 2.5Mbps.”
12. "Learn More About iPlayerHD" .
iPlayerHD.com. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
“We support FLV and H264 as MOV and
MP4.”
13. "Learn More About iPlayerHD" .
iPlayerHD.com. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
“iPlayerHD will deliver video at any
resolution including SD 720 x 480, and HD
480, 720 and 1080.”
14. "Learn More About iPlayerHD" .
iPlayerHD.com. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
“Your video will be delivered at bit-rates
up to 5,000 kbps or 5 mbps.”
15. "Video quality reference table from
best to worst" .
16. "MetaCDN Technical Specs" .
MetaCDN. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
17. "Live Streaming Service" . MetaCDN.
Retrieved 2014-08-20.
18. Hunt, Neil (2008-11-06). "The Official
Netflix Blog: Encoding for streaming" .
Netflix. Retrieved 2009-10-16. “...but
settled on second-generation HD encodes
with VC1AP”
19. "You Can Now Stream 4K Netflix on
Windows 10" . MakeUseOf. Retrieved
2016-11-26.
20. "Internet Connection Speed
Recommendations" . Help Center.
Retrieved 2016-11-26.
21. Hunt, Neil (2008-11-06). "The Official
Netflix Blog: Encoding for streaming" .
Netflix. Retrieved 2009-10-16. “second-
generation HD encodes ... at 2600kbps
and 3800kbps”
22. Dipert, Brian (2008-07-17). "Online
Video Content Distribution: Sony's
PlayStation 3 Enters The Ring (Albeit With
A Sound-Hampered Hand Tied Behind Its
Back)" . EDN. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
23. "StreamShark Technical
Specifications" . StreamShark. Retrieved
2015-10-08.
24. "Live Streaming Service" .
StreamShark. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
25. "Vimeo - Compression guidelines on
Vimeo" . Vimeo. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
“For best results, we recommend using
H.264 (sometimes referred to as MP4) for
the video codec and AAC (short for
Advanced Audio Codec) for the audio
codec.”
26. "Vimeo - Compression guidelines on
Vimeo" . Vimeo. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
“640x480 for standard definition 4:3
video, 853x480 for widescreen DV, or
1920x1080 for high definition.”
27. "Vimeo - Compression guidelines on
Vimeo" . Vimeo. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
“Use 2000 kbits/sec for standard
definition 4:3 video, 3000 kbits/sec for
widescreen DV, or 5000 kbits/sec for high
definition footage.”
28. "Vimeo - Compression guidelines on
Vimeo" . Vimeo. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
“You'll want to set the bit rate to 320 kbps
and the sample rate to 44.100 kHz.”
29. Sturgeon, Shane (2008-02-21).
"Showdown: Apple TV vs. VUDU" . HDTV
Magazine. Archived from the original on
2008-05-12. Retrieved 2009-11-05. “...all
HD content is ... encoded with H.264 High
Profile”
30. "Streaming Requirements" . Vudu.
Retrieved 2010-02-09. “HDX (1080p)”
31. "Streaming Requirements" . Vudu.
Retrieved 2010-02-09. “HDX (1080p)
requires 4500 kbps”
32. "XBox Video" . Microsoft. Retrieved
8 November 2012.

Further reading
"Images formats for HDTV"
(PDF) . (549 KiB), article from the EBU
Technical Review .
"High Definition for Europe - a
progressive approach" (PDF). (207 KiB),
article from the EBU Technical Review .
"High Definition (HD) Image Formats
for Television Production"
(PDF) . (117 KiB), technical report from
the EBU
 "Digital Terrestrial HDTV Broadcasting
in Europe" (PDF)., technical report from
the EBU

External links
Look up HDTV in Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.

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