[opendtv] Re: News; Dish to Expand HD Roster, Offer 1080p Movies

  • From: "John Shutt" <shuttj@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 16:33:24 -0400

Tom,

With the diversity of programming on PBS, you cannot make a blanket statement about the cameras. A lot of programming is shot on film, some on 1080i30 cameras, some at 480i widescreen, and some at 576i50 widescreen.

Right now approximately 2 out of 3 programs on PBS HD are upconverted widscreen SD. That ratio is changing, but it will be quite some time before even 50% of PBS programming is true HD of any flavor.

By December, most of the programming delivered to member stations will be delivered in HD. Legacy 4:3 programming will be delivered upconverted with side curtains (pillarboxed.) There's going to be a lot of that sort of material, and the implementation of AFD is playing a very large role in PBS trying to minimize the amount of "postage stamp" programming we deliver.

With the advent of digital cinema, it's hard to find a professional HD video camera that cannot do 1080p23.976. However, PBS has already settled on 1080i29.97 as their one and only HD format for all HD material.

John
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Barry" <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 12:44 PM
Subject: [opendtv] Re: News; Dish to Expand HD Roster, Offer 1080p Movies




John Shutt wrote:
> But you have a very legitimate point that 99% of PBS programming would
> not be affected by 24p.  We don't do much live sports, unless you count
> Ballroom Dancing.

Do you mean not affect if it had 24p source sent at 30i (hopefully with proper repeat flags)? Or do you mean actually broadcast at 24p? That last would probably not work well for you since PBS seems to have a lot of the better HD material sourced from 1080i video cameras (or 480i legacy stuff) and that does not deinterlace well to 24p.

- Tom


Sorry, Bert.  Earlier I missed your point entirely.

Blu-Ray video needs to hold up in resolution and (lack of) macroblocking frame by frame for the entire movie. People will slo-mo the video, pause it, zoom in on it, etc., so I can understand the higher bitrate.

Apparently, conversion from 1080i30 to 1080p24 requires a specialized cross converter. The "cheap" one we have here at the station will only cross convert between 30i and 60p. (Miranda XVP-1801) It is much easier, apparently, to convert 1080p24 back to 1080i30 or 720p60 through a simple 3:2 pulldown. (All frame rates also imply the 1.000/1.001 versions but are omitted for brevity.)

But you have a very legitimate point that 99% of PBS programming would not be affected by 24p. We don't do much live sports, unless you count Ballroom Dancing.

John

----- Original Message ----- From: "Albert Manfredi" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>

So why aren't OTA broadcasters making a big to-do about this "full HD" they already have, that anyone can already use?

Bert



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Tom Barry                  trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx


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