What Make's Video HD And Is Possible Too Shoot HD With A SD Camera ?

M

mikhal5569

Member
I've been looking through the forums and have seen a topic that reads "Sunny In Philadelphia in HD" When you go into the topic it says that the crew is "still" using a DVX Camera( which as we all know is a standard definition camera.) but, they are
just shooting in squeeze mode.

This brings me to my questions, what makes video/film HD? If I use a HD lens to film with on myDVX100b can I legitimately say that the footage was shot in HD?
It just seems like people are claiming to shoot in HD when they are in fact
using SD equipment.
 
First, film is not HD. Film is film.

Second, what makes HD hi-def is the frame size during acquisition. It's not the lens. (An HD lens, by the way, is marketed to be sharper for the higher detail reproduction of the HD signal... it has nothing to do with the material being HD.)

There are, generally speaking, three frame sizes:

1) SD, which is 720x480 (we're speaking in pixels here)
2) HD 720, which is 1280x720
3) HD 1080, which is 1920x1080 and is referred to as "full HD"

There are variants, due to differences in pixel types. DVCPRO HD is 1440x1080 with non-square pixels, but once conformed to HD 1080 with square pixels, it fills a 1920x1080 frame. But the three basic frames above are the basics.

There's a new trend of "up-rezzing" SD material. This is a process that blows an SD frame up to HD specs. It is HD in the sense that it fills the correct frame (let's call it "mock HD"), but it is not true HD as it started life as standard-def material. There are some very impressive examples of some DVX footage up-rezzed to "mock HD" out there, but it's still SD material. It's the equivalent of watching a standard-def DVD on an HD set via a DVD player with up-scaling output. That player will convert the frame size on playback, but that doesn't make the DVD hi-def.

"Sunny in Philadelphia" did start out production on a DVX, which is SD. The program was probably up-rezzed to HD scale for cablecast, but it was still shot in standard def. They now, I believe, shoot on Sony EX1 or EX3 in true HD.
 
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To add a bit as well....
Recording in High definition allows you to record more resolution in your frame. When you record in 1080 over 720 you get more resolution than you would recording in 720 and uprezzing to 1080. You can always "uprez" an image to fill a frame size, but the larger frame size you record in the more resolution, sharpness, details, you end up with in your frame.
 
PerroneFord said:
C2V, just a small nit here, DVCProHD is 1280x1080. HDV is 1440x1080. And "Sunny" is now shot on EX3's.
Click to expand...

Well, that would depend on where you are located. In PAL land, DVCProHD is 1440x1080. Just like with SD PAL
compared to NTSC, the lower frame rate allows more bandwidth to be used for resolution.
 
Okay, I think I got it. So, if I'm shooting in SD and planning on uprezzing to HD, should I increase the detail level of the DVX100b?
 
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deltoidjohn said:
Well, that would depend on where you are located. In PAL land, DVCProHD is 1440x1080. Just like with SD PAL
compared to NTSC, the lower frame rate allows more bandwidth to be used for resolution.
Click to expand...

Whoa, just checked the spec. Very interesting. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
 
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