[opendtv] Re: Why Europe should choose 720P for HDTV
- From: "Tom McMahon" <TLM@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 07:36:29 -0800
When I was at Microsoft, I funded John to write a paper on this very subject in
order to clarify and lend credibility to the issues
that Mark and John describe. The media PC was a glint in our eye at the time
but the principal facts were intact even then.
The principal facts remain intact. Of course, certain companies would prefer
that this information would be disappeared so that
they can continue to ship existing inventory....
- Tom McMahon
-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Mark Schubin
Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2004 7:12 AM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: Why Europe should choose 720P for HDTV
Doug McDonald wrote:
>Discrete pixel displays change things.
>
They do, but not always in beneficial ways.
If we knew that every display was 1920 x 1080 -- or any other fixed set of
numbers -- we could optimize camera, processing, and
transmission parameters to match those displays. But we have no such
situation.
There are 1024 x 1024 displays, 1366 x 768, and others, in addition to 720p's
1280 x 720.
Consider the unique case of 1920 alternating black and white vertical lines
(960 of each). In theory, they can be displayed on a
discrete-pixel display with 1920 pixels across. Now shift them 1/2 pixel
horizontally. The result is all grey.
If we knew that every TV set would have 1920 pixels across, we could make sure
such a half-pixel horizontal shift would never occur.
But with multiple resolutions, there will be scaling, and scaling can
effectively shift everything out of the discrete-pixel grid.
Consider this. Which has more resolution? A 440-line NTSC broadcast or an
852-pixel-wide plasma panel? Due to the pixel-shift
phenomenon, the 852-pixel display can only display half as many TV lines of
resolution as pixels with a guarantee that they will be
actually black and white.
That's 426, slightly less than broadcast NTSC resolution.
I think that's what John Watkinson was driving at.
He may wear funny clothes and hurl hilarious insults, but the author of The Art
of Digital Video is not unaware of discrete-pixel
displays.
TTFN,
Mark
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