[mythtv-users] Fox 3 hour HD program size ?

Brad Templeton brad+myth at templetons.com
Tue May 24 02:51:55 UTC 2005


On Mon, May 23, 2005 at 03:32:17PM -0400, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
> On Mon, May 23, 2005 at 03:30:06PM -0400, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> > Also, since Attack of the Clones was a movie to start with, maybe it was 
> > broadcast as 720p24 instead of 720p60.  (Movies are filmed at 24fps, so 
> > broadcasting at higher refresh rates wouldn't add anything--it's only 
> > done with NTSC since NTSC only allows one format.).  If so it seems 
> > sensible that 720p24 would take about half the bandwidth of 720p60...
> 
> I'd expect that to be 720p30, Mike; I rarely see 60 Frame progressive
> anywhere -- I may never have seen it.
> 

There are several reasons for the small size of a movie sent this
way.   (I also recorded it and watched it because I went to RotSith
today.  MUCH better than Ep1 and Ep2, like everybody's saying.  Also,
in some ways, I recommend watching the original Star Wars before RotSith
even more than Attack of the Clones.)

As noted, the movie is generated at 24fps for cinema, and then converted
to 60fps with duplicated frames etc.   The duplicated frames, however,
take very little space, because they are just duplicates.

Secondly, Star Wars is generated digitally.   Much of what you see is
becoming analog for the very first time as it gets to your TV or video
cable.   As such it is going to be very low-noise and very suitable for
good compression.

Though since Star Wars is generated digitally, and Lucas wants it shown
mostly on digital projectors (though they are still rare but will become
the norm down the road) I think it would have been cool if he had shot
and rendered it in 30fps or even 60fps.   The digital cinemas could
have really shown the difference, and eventually the fancy home TVs could
have done the same.

Attack of the Clones was one of the more remarkable HD presentations
I've seen.  While not up to the 2048 x 1080 show I just came from, it
was still very good at 720p, and nobody talking.   While nobody's going
to avoid the cinema over the version on bittorrent right now, they might
over a 720p version.


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list