Transitioning from NTSC analog to HD digital Video

Paul Hightower

doi:10.1117/12.2190070

Translator Disclaimer

19 May 2015 Transitioning from NTSC analog to HD digital Video

Paul Hightower

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9463, Motion Imagery: Standards, Quality, and Interoperability; 946307 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2190070
Event: SPIE Defense + Security, 2015, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

As video systems move from analog NTSC to HD digital video, new system topologies, new transport systems, compression effects and new data spaces must be considered. This paper will explore some of the tradeoffs and benefits of HD video. There are many new elements of specification when designing an HD video system. This paper will survey HD video and compare the terms between it and analog video. It will also uncover new issues that did not exist in analog video systems. For example, transport bandwidth requirements are in gigabits per second. Only 45 minutes of 1080p/60 uncompressed video requires a terabyte of storage. Compression techniques are used to address transport bandwidth and storage capacity limitations. Compression introduces real time latency between the source and destination video. Latencies range from 50 milliseconds to several seconds depending on the complexity of the scene and the bandwidth of the transport. Latencies impact human remote control, data collection and time stamping strategies. Latency affects the overlay of time critical measurements; compression threatens the legibility of any text overlay when made at the source. The paper will reveal that HD resolution is three dimensional defined as lines, pixels and pixel depth. There are a variety of sampling techniques that take advantage of the foibles of our physiology to reduce frame data sizes. Some are barely perceptible to the eye, some compromise image quality. These sampling techniques will be described.

Citation Download Citation

Paul Hightower "Transitioning from NTSC analog to HD digital Video", Proc. SPIE 9463, Motion Imagery: Standards, Quality, and Interoperability, 946307 (19 May 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2190070

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE