|
21 June 2004 14:09 by Petteri "dRD" Pyyny
| 6 comments
Leading European satellite operator Astra and 60 European broadcasters have agreed on a HDTV initiative that aims to create a standard HDTV platform across the Europe. Astra is the satellite provider that most large European satellite broadcasters, including British Sky Digital, use.
The group agreed to standardize on two broadcast resolutions, 720p50 and 1080i25. 720p50 means that the broadcast resolution would be 1280x720 pixels with 50 full frames per second (==progressive) and 1080i25 means a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels with 25 full frames per second (==interlaced). Both resolutions are the most commonly used HDTV broadcast resolutions in the United States (but American HDTV uses higher framerate). Both resolutions are natively in 16:9 aspect ratio.
Group also agreed to create a pan-European "HDTV" label that would be granted to devices, such as TVs and digital set-top boxes, that are ready to receive and decode HDTV material. Compression formats that the European HDTV will use are MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC.
Source: Astra press release
Permalink to this article
|
|
|
| Discuss this article! |
| A_Klingon (Moderator) 22 June 2004 4:58 |
|
Regardless of the resolution, I am concerned about the seemingly over-wide disparity in the fps rate.
25 fps vs. 50 fps? Why such a difference?
Seems to me that with the higher resolution of the two mentioned above (1920x1080 pixels), the lower frame-rate per second would be false economy, and only serve to nullify what the higher resolution would gain. (In other words, I would have thought that a high-resolution and a high frame rate, would have gone hand-in-hand).
Crisp imagery coupled with blurry motion doesn't make sense to me.
And whatever the other specs, I DO so very much wish they would abandon, once and for all, *anything* interlaced. interlaced video is a fossil. A petrified relic best left buried with the Dinosaurs of the past.
|
| pcshateme (Inactive) 22 June 2004 6:20 |
|
many dvds are interlaced. i know because i use dvdx to make divx backups of dvds and it detects wether there interlaced or not. like 2/3 of my dvds are interlaced. however the frame rate thing is stupid.
|
| A_Klingon (Moderator) 22 June 2004 16:46 |
|
The fact that many DVDs are interlaced doesn't excuse the problem. It doesn't help anything - it just serves to show me again and again what an abomination interlaced DVDs are.
And the combination of divx + interlaced video constitutes a marriage made in hell. In my experience, at least with the divx's *I've* made, they are unqualified disasters. Jerky, jumpy motion abounds, yielding a video which is painful to watch. (Non- interlaced, i.e. Progressive dvds, are completely exempt from these problems.)
See if you can pull a Dr. DivX on this little puppy, pcshateme :
Planes, Trains And Automobiles, a light comedy starring Steve Martin and John Candy.
I wouldn't be able to make a clean copy of this DVD if you paid me.
No........ interlaced video has no place in future High Definition Video, whether broadcast or pressed onto disc.
(My .02c).
|
| pcshateme (Inactive) 22 June 2004 16:57 |
|
|
well most of my dvds come out ok, but then again, most of my dvds are anime
|
| Ghostdog (Senior Member) 23 June 2004 10:40 |
|
So... am I wrong in asuming that us europeans are now taking major steps in the direction of HDTV? I know HDTV is widely talked about in the United States, it seems strange to me that the european area and asia haven´t followed the states´ example.
|
| A_Klingon (Moderator) 23 June 2004 15:06 |
|
|
I expect they'll still be blathering about it (bla-bla-bla-bla....) this time next year, because aside from the many different proposed standards, the BIGGEST problem for content providers is installing a "foolproof" DRM system.
The video will have to be fairly-well crippled before they will let you receive it via broadcast. (You will be able to *stream* it <watch it>), but until such time as "they" can find a way to prohibit you from making a direct digital copy, they'll be yapping about it forever, bla-bla-bla-bla-bla-bla-bla...........
And that goes double for HD-DVD Discs.
Pull up a chair, set yerself down, pour another (1000) cups of coffee...... you'll be waiting for a while yet.
|
|
|
Latest newsLatest news from AfterDawn.com. Adobe adds Photoshop app to Android Market 9 Nov, 2009 The iPhone has its first worm: Rick Roll'd! 9 Nov, 2009 | 3 comments Studios want release delay on new releases via Netflix 9 Nov, 2009 | 4 comments Zune HD software updates to 4.3 9 Nov, 2009 Anyone can have their name in the credits of 'Paranormal Activity' 9 Nov, 2009 | 5 comments Verizon doubles early termination fee for smartphones 8 Nov, 2009 | 7 comments What does Google know about you? Try 'Dashboard' 8 Nov, 2009 | 4 comments Blu-ray 'Managed Copy' to start in December, lacking hardware support 8 Nov, 2009 | 10 comments Myka introduces ION media center set-top 8 Nov, 2009 American texters send 4.1 billion per day 8 Nov, 2009 | 5 comments Skype is finally free to be independent 8 Nov, 2009 Technology leads to enhanced social worlds, says study 8 Nov, 2009 | 1 comment
More news... 
Search for headlinesSearch through our news archive. 
Latest threadsRecently updated discussion threads. More... 
Last week's most popular software downloads
Most popular devicesLast week's most popular products in our product comparison service. More products... 
Top linksMost popular links - Blasteroids.com
Download game trailers, demos and more - TorrentReactor.Net
The most active torrents on the web - Digital-Digest
Latest DivX, XviD, DVD, Blu-Ray, HD DVD News - OpenSubtitles.org
download DivX subtitles from the biggest open database - CDRInfo.com
The Hardware Authority - DVDHelp.us
DVD help, tutorials, FAQ, and very popular free help forum! - Torrentreactor.TO
The most active torrents on the web - dvd ripper
rip DVD to VCD, DivX, MPEG, SVCD, AVI easily and quickly.

|