HVX Native 16:9 CCD, why 4:3 pixel resolution?

[mrbrycel]

I apologize if this subject has been covered before...

The HVX/HPX has native 16:9 ccds right? If so, why does it shoot DVCPRO-HD in a 4:3 pixel resolution (720x960)? And does that mean that it's stretching pixels to fit 16:9?

[VenezuelanD]

Thats actually 960x720, with the 960 pixels being rectangular instead of square (at a 1.33 ratio) so when you take that into a account and multiply 960 by 1.33 you get 1280x720.

All DVCProHD 720 footage is shot with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.33 960x720, this is something that was established long before the HVX200 was even thought inside some panasonic engineer's head.

All DVCProHD 1080 footage is shot with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.5 at 1280x1080 which when converted is 1920x1080

[mrbrycel]

Thanks for clearing that up! That makes perfect sense. Until now I never knew that there were rectangular pixels, for some reason I thought all pixels were square.

[mrbrycel]

I don't understand...so it DOES capture in full screen first and convert to widescreen? (1:85)

No, I think what VenezuelanD was saying was that it captures 960x720 rectangular pixels (each pixel has an ratio of 1.33:1) making the image equivalent to 1280x720 square pixels (1:1 ratio).

[Barry_Green]

It captures 1920x1080. It then scales down to whatever the recording format is.

[Barry_Green]

Well, that's how it increases its resolution, yes. But regardless of what the res of the system is, the process it goes through is to scan and process all information at 1920x1080. It always internally works at 1920x1080 in progressive-scan, at whatever frame rate you select, from 2 to 60 fps. It then downconverts to whatever the final recording format will be.