As seen previously the computer monitor coupled with the right VGA card can produce resolutions from 640x480 to 2048x1536 ( 4:3 aspect ratio ). When editing video I normally use the screen resolution of 2048x1536, which gives me plenty of room for all the tools, monitors and timeline. 2048x1536 is exactly half the resolution of 35mm film, which is the format used to shoot most major motion pictures - note the graphic below.

Major motion pictures begin with a resolution of 4096x3072. This is a 4:3 ratio resolution and is known in the industry as a 4K image. It is then cropped to one of many widescreen aspect ratios.

You Get the Picture, and Now You're Getting a New Picture

Although widescreen is commonly referred to as 16:9, 16:9 is only one of many widescreen aspect ratios, including: 1.70:1, 1.78:1, 1.85:1, 2.2:1, 2.35:1, 2.40:1, 2.66:1, 2.70:1 and finally, 3.00:1 - each having a unique name. Cinerama, CinemaScope, Panavision, VistaVision, Technirama and Todd-AO. These all fall into the catagory of "letterbox", including 16:9. The technical term is "anamorphic screen format".

As we continue toward the future we are all going to be concerned with what is now called "high definition". As you can see, Hollywood films have been working in "really high definition" for years. For the purposes of hi-def television production the 2K image is a good starting point. Just as a reminder 2K is the screen resolution I use for video editing - 2048x1536. The hi-def 1920x1080 video frame just fits inside this resolution without loss of pixels when cropped to that size for television display.

If you are considering the purchase of a new HDTV listen closely to what the salesperson tells you about the image on that television. Listen closely to what they have to say about the HD signal and DVD video respectively. Take notes on what you are reading here and compare them with what you are told out there. Remember, I'm not trying to sell you an HD television. I am only trying to help you understand what all the hoopla is about so you'll know what to look for, no matter how it relates to digital video!

HDTV's are just now graduating to the point where they actually do display the full 1920x1080 HD resolution. The very first ones only gave you widescreen standard definition 856x480 resolution. Granted the 856 is more pixels than 720 but hardly high definition. Later most had a display resolution of 1280x720, and then along came 1366x768. Maybe they should have called these sets "a little higher defintion"!

Once you begin editing video on your computer you will be faced with a lot of file formats, pixel bit depths, pixel aspect ratios (yes, pixels are not always square) and data rates that may, or may not be familiar to you. I will endeavor to clarify these for you as we proceed.

It is important to have a general understanding of the basic properties of file formats, their capabilities, and even their limitations. If you do not have that basic understanding of these things, your outcome may be much less than what you had hoped for. On top of that you will have wasted a good deal of time!

One of the things that everyone eventually wants to do in a video project is to use still images. The quality of those images is essential to the quality of the outcome of those same images within a given video project. Still images on your computer are known as bitmaps, not to be confused with the Windows BMP format. All still images, whether they are JPG, BMP, TIF, TGA, GIF, etc. are bitmaps. Bits mapped in rows and columns to form a picture. They can be 8bit, 16bit, 24bit and 32bit files. Each with a unique nature when it comes to adding them to your videos.