|  | Posted by Rick Merrill on 02/01/07 19:55 
Andrew Rossmann wrote:> In article <D_6wh.832427$5R2.679581@pd7urf3no>, stuart_miller@shaw.ca
 > says...
 >> <SFTVratings_troy@yahoo.com> wrote in message
 >> news:1170274597.382084.36170@k78g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
 >>> For comparison other standards are:
 >>> 240 - VHS (ditto Betamax)
 >>> 330 - NTSC broadcast
 >>> 425 - laserdisc (ditto S-VHS)
 >>> 540 - DVD
 >>>
 >>> I was a bit surprised, but apparently the Electronics Industry
 >>> Association measures the resolution differently than one might
 >>> expect.  They put a giant circle in the middle of the screen, count
 >>> the number of visible pixels across, and arrive at a number like "425
 >>> for laserdisc" or "540 for dvd".  It seems counterintuitive, but
 >>> that's how it's done.
 >>>
 >>> I imagine if the DVD is severely compressed, the quality would drop
 >>> much lower than 540 (just as a VHS tape recorded in super-slow mode is
 >>> only ~120 across).  540 is the ideal, not the norm.
 >>>
 >> Even in optimal situations, there are two resolutions to consider.
 >> First is the signal. I had understood NTSC to be 525 each way, (for a video
 >> camera)
 >> Second is the display - there are regions of the signal ( top & bottom)
 >> which are not displayed on the screen
 >>
 >> So what you actually see is less than what is recorded. The technical
 >> sections of sites like digitalfaq explainm this properly.
 >
 > Don't confuse HORIZONTAL resolution with VERTICAL resolution.
 >
 > 525 is the VERTICAL resolution of NTSC. Of those 525, only 480 actually
 > carry picture information. The rest are for sync, closed captioning, and
 > other digital transmission features (parental control, XDS,
 > TVGuideOnScreen, timecode for VCR's, etc...)
 >
 > The 240/330, etc mentioned above are rough HORIZONTAL resolutions.
 >
 > For reference, the HD resolutions are:
 > 1280(h)x720(v)
 > 1920(h)x1080(v)
 >
 
 Small nit: "only 480 actually carry picture information. The rest" are
 for Vertical Retrace and get to carry CC, etc.
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