Standard Definition and High Definition are image quality standards relating mostly to televisions that have made a large impact on new Digital Video technologies and publishing.
Standard Definition, furthermore referred to as SD, refers to the image resolution of most older televisions and DVDs. The resolution was usually 720x576 or 720x480. Well established technologies such as DVD and Mini-DV Video recorders are SD.
High Definition, furthermore referred to as HD, refers to the image resolution of newer televisions and new technologies such as HDTV and Blu-Ray. There are three major formats of HD:
720p - This format has the resolution 1024 x 720, and the "p" refers to a progressive scanning system, meaning that each line is drawn in sequence upon screen refresh.
1080i - This format has the higher resolution 1920 x 1080, and the "i" refers to an interlaced scanning system, where odd and even lines are drawn alternately upon refresh.
1080p - This format has the same resolution as 1080i, but uses progressive scanning and is perceived to be of higher quality.
These formats are now becoming more and more common among consumer video recording products. However some video cameras that record to hard-disks or flash memory cards might purport to be HD but are, in fact, SD. Check the resolution the camera records at to ascertain its true quality.
The superior quality of HD has not only made it a new standard for television, but online services such as Youtube and Vimeo now have the ability to host HD video online.
Are there any downsides to HD?
HD cameras generally provide a much better picture than SD, however there are a few points that can make HD trickier to work with than SD.
Supported software
While older SD formats such as DV have been around for a long time and are well supported by most editing softwares, this can occasionally not be the case for some HD formats. Some editing softwares, such as Windows Movie Maker, can have little to no support for HD footage, meaning you have to pay for a more professional editing software to work with your HD footage.
Hard-disk space
HD footage inhabits considerably more hard-disk space than SD footage. This is becoming less of a concern as external hard-disk storage becomes cheaper, but is certainly something to be aware of.
Processing power and Memory
Due to the higher quality of the footage, HD editing softwares often requires more processing power and memory than SD edits.
Don't forget that older cameras and SD formats are still fine, particularly for online publishing. But HD has quickly become a new, high quality standard that is becoming more and more affordable and supported.
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