[opendtv] Re: Finally anamorphically compressed 480i

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 08:55:53 -0500

At 8:24 PM -0500 2/1/11, John Shutt wrote:


Bert,
For a myriad of economic reasons, that will happen only when production moves to HD. It doesn't make sense to completely rebuild a television station only to produce progressive standard definition. Also, yes, 480p60 is an emission standard, but it is not an SD-SDI format. So in order to use 480p60 in a plant, you have to go with 720p60 and only use part of the video frame. Extremely messy and no standard equipment is available to do it. It's either 480i30 (either widescreen or 4:3), or one of the two standard HD formats.
Yes, in my experience (and that of other PBS stations,) 720p compresses much more efficiently than 1080i, especially when we bit starve it for a four channel multiplex.
For our eventual move to HD production, when we can scrape up the $1.5 million or so to build an HD studio, I voted for 720p, but was overridden by management in favor of 1080i, because it is "better" and because it is what PBS chose. 

Sigh.



EXACTLY!
John speaks volumes here. Many broadcasters continue to build upon past mistakes... 

Regards
Craig


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