For the use of video in Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:Creation and usage of media files. For films or movies, see Film. For other uses, see Video (disambiguation). Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion. Contents 1 History 2 Description of video 3 Characteristics of video streams 3.1 Number of frames per second 3.2 Interlacing 3.3 Display resolution 3.4 Aspect ratio 3.5 Color space and bits per pixel 3.6 Video quality 3.7 Video compression method (digital only) 3.8 Bit rate (digital only) 3.9 Stereoscopic 4 Video formats 4.1 Video connectors, cables, and signal standards 4.2 Video display standards 4.2.1 Digital television 4.2.2 Analog television 4.2.3 Computer displays 4.3 Recording Formats before Video Tape 4.4 Analog tape formats 4.5 Digital tape formats 4.6 Optical disc storage formats 4.6.1 Discontinued 4.7 Digital encoding formats 4.8 Standards 5 See also 6 References 7 External links // History Video technology was first developed for cathode ray tube television systems, but several new technologies for video display devices have since been invented. Standards for television sets and computer monitors have tended to evolve independently, but advances in computer performance and digital television broadcasting and recording are resulting in a convergence of standards and use of content. Computers can now display television and film-style video clips and streaming media, encouraged by increased processor speed, storage capacity, and broadband access to the Internet. General purpose computing hardware can now be used to capture, store, edit, and transmit television and movie content, as opposed to older dedicated analog technologies. This section requires expansion. Description of video Analog video standards worldwide    NTSC    PAL or switching to PAL    SECAM    No information

The term video ("video" meaning "I see", from the Latin verb "videre") commonly refers to several storage formats for moving pictures: digital video formats, including Blu-ray Disc, DVD, QuickTime, and MPEG-4; and analog videotapes, including VHS and Betamax. Video can be recorded and transmitted in various physical media: in magnetic tape when recorded as PAL or NTSC electric signals by video cameras, or in MPEG-4 or DV digital media when recorded by digital cameras. Quality of video essentially depends on the capturing method and storage used. Digital television (DTV) is a relatively recent format with higher quality than earlier television formats and has become a standard for television video. (See List of digital television deployments by country.) 3D-video, digital video in three dimensions, premiered at the end of 20th century. Six or eight cameras with realtime depth measurement are typically used to capture 3D-video streams. The format of 3D-video is fixed in MPEG-4 Part 16 Animation Framework eXtension (AFX). In the United Kingdom, Estonia, Australia, Netherlands, Finland, Hungary and New Zealand, the term video is often used informally to refer to both Videocassette recorders and video cassettes; the meaning is normally clear from the context. Characteristics of video streams Number of frames per second Frame rate, the number of still pictures per unit of time of video, ranges from six or eight frames per second (frame/s) for old mechanical cameras to 120 or more frames per second for new professional cameras. PAL (Europe, Asia, Australia, etc.) and SECAM (France, Russia, parts of Africa etc.) standards specify 25 frame/s, while NTSC (USA, Canada, Japan, etc.) specifies 29.97 frame/s. Film is shot at the slower frame rate of 24photograms/s, which complicates slightly the process of transferring a cinematic motion picture to video. The minimum frame rate to achieve the illusion of a moving image is about fifteen frames per second. Interlacing

Video can be interlaced or progressive. Interlacing was invented as a way to achieve good visual quality within the limitations of a narrow bandwidth. The horizontal scan lines of each interlaced frame are numbered consecutively and partitioned into two fields: the odd field (upper field) consisting of the odd-numbered lines and the even field (lower field) consisting of the even-numbered lines. NTSC, PAL and SECAM are interlaced formats. Abbreviated video resolution specifications often include an i to indicate interlacing. For example, PAL video format is often specified as 576i50, where 576 indicates the vertical line resolution, i indicates interlacing, and 50 indicates 50 fields (half-frames) per second. In progressive scan systems, each refresh period updates all of the scan lines. The result is a higher spatial resolution and a lack of various artifacts that can make parts of a stationary picture appear to be moving or flashing. A procedure known as deinterlacing can be used for converting an interlaced stream, such as analog, DVD, or satellite, to be processed by progressive scan devices, such as TFT TV-sets, projectors, and plasma panels. Deinterlacing cannot, however, produce a video quality that is equivalent to true progressive scan source material. Display resolution Main article: Display resolution Common computer and TV display resolutions. The size of a video image is measured in pixels for digital video, or horizontal scan lines and vertical lines of resolution for analog video. In the digital domain (e.g. DVD) standard-definition television (SDTV) is specified as 720/704/640×480i60 for NTSC and 768/720×576i50 for PAL or SECAM resolution. However in the analog domain, the number of visible scanlines remains constant (486 NTSC/576 PAL) while the horizontal measurement varies with the quality of the signal: approximately 320 pixels per scanline for VCR quality, 400 pixels for TV broadcasts, and 720 pixels for DVD sources. Aspect ratio is preserved because of non-square "pixels".

New high-definition televisions (HDTV) are capable of resolutions up to 1920×1080p60, i.e. 1920 pixels per scan line by 1080 scan lines, progressive, at 60 frames per second. Video resolution for 3D-video is measured in voxels (volume picture element, representing a value in three dimensional space). For example 512×512×512 voxels resolution, now used for simple 3D-video, can be displayed even on some PDAs. Aspect ratio Comparison of common cinematography and traditional television (green) aspect ratios. Many arcade games use 3:4 portrait mode to efficiently utilize the entire display area. Aspect ratio describes the dimensions of video screens and video picture elements. All popular video formats are rectilinear, and so can be described by a ratio between width and height. The screen aspect ratio of a traditional television screen is 4:3, or about 1.33:1. High definition televisions use an aspect ratio of 16:9, or about 1.78:1. The aspect ratio of a full 35 mm film frame with soundtrack (also known as the Academy ratio) is 1.375:1. Ratios where the height is taller than the width are uncommon in general everyday use, but do have application in computer systems where the screen may be better suited for a vertical layout. The most common tall aspect ratio of 3:4 is referred to as portrait mode and is created by physically rotating the display device 90 degrees from the normal position. Other tall aspect ratios such as 9:16 are technically possible but rarely used. (For a more detailed discussion of this topic please refer to the page orientation article.) Pixels on computer monitors are usually square, but pixels used in digital video often have non-square aspect ratios, such as those used in the PAL and NTSC variants of the CCIR 601 digital video standard, and the corresponding anamorphic widescreen formats. Therefore, an NTSC DV image which is 720 pixels by 480 pixels is displayed with the aspect ratio of 4:3 (which is the traditional television standard) if the pixels are thin and displayed with the aspect ratio of 16:9 (which is the anamorphic widescreen format) if the pixels are fat. Color space and bits per pixel Example of U-V color plane, Y value=0.5

Color model name describes the video color representation. YIQ was used in NTSC television. It corresponds closely to the YUV scheme used in NTSC and PAL television and the YDbDr scheme used by SECAM television. The number of distinct colors that can be represented by a pixel depends on the number of bits per pixel (bpp). A common way to reduce the number of bits per pixel in digital video is by chroma subsampling (e.g. 4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0/4:1:1). Video quality Video quality can be measured with formal metrics like PSNR or with subjective video quality using expert observation. The subjective video quality of a video processing system may be evaluated as follows: Choose the video sequences (the SRC) to use for testing. Choose the settings of the system to evaluate (the HRC). Choose a test method for how to present video sequences to experts and to collect their ratings. Invite a sufficient number of experts, preferably not fewer than 15. Carry out testing. Calculate the average marks for each HRC based on the experts' ratings. Many subjective video quality methods are described in the ITU-T recommendation BT.500. One of the standardized method is the Double Stimulus Impairment Scale (DSIS). In DSIS, each expert views an unimpaired reference video followed by an impaired version of the same video. The expert then rates the impaired video using a scale ranging from "impairments are imperceptible" to "impairments are very annoying". Video compression method (digital only) Main article: Video compression A wide variety of methods are used to compress video streams. Video data contains spatial and temporal redundancy, making uncompressed video streams extremely inefficient. Broadly speaking, spatial redundancy is reduced by registering differences between parts of a single frame; this task is known as intraframe compression and is closely related to image compression. Likewise, temporal redundancy can be reduced by registering differences between frames; this task is known as interframe compression, including motion compensation and other techniques. The most common modern standards are MPEG-2, used for DVD and satellite television, and MPEG-4, used for home video. Bit rate (digital only)

Bit rate is a measure of the rate of information content in a video stream. It is quantified using the bit per second (bit/s or bps) unit or Megabits per second (Mbit/s). A higher bit rate allows better video quality. For example VideoCD, with a bit rate of about 1 Mbit/s, is lower quality than DVD, with a bit rate of about 5 Mbit/s. HD (High Definition Digital Video and TV) has a still higher quality, with a bit rate of about 20 Mbit/s. Variable bit rate (VBR) is a strategy to maximize the visual video quality and minimize the bit rate. On fast motion scenes, a variable bit rate uses more bits than it does on slow motion scenes of similar duration yet achieves a consistent visual quality. For real-time and non-buffered video streaming when the available bandwidth is fixed, e.g. in videoconferencing delivered on channels of fixed bandwidth, a constant bit rate (CBR) must be used. Stereoscopic Stereoscopic video can be created using several different methods: two channels — a right channel for the right eye and a left channel for the left eye. Both channels may be viewed simultaneously by using light-polarizing filters 90 degrees off-axis from each other on two video projectors. These separately polarized channels are viewed wearing eyeglasses with matching polarization filters. one channel with two overlaid color coded layers. This left and right layer technique is occasionally used for network broadcast, or recent "anaglyph" releases of 3D movies on DVD. Simple Red/Cyan plastic glasses provide the means to view the images discretely to form a stereoscopic view of the content. One channel with alternating left/right frames for each eye, using LCD shutter glasses which read the frame sync from the VGA Display Data Channel to alternately cover each eye, so the appropriate eye sees the correct frame. This method is most common in computer virtual reality applications such as in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, but reduces the effective video framerate to one-half of normal (for example, from 120 Hz to 60 Hz).

Blu-ray Discs greatly improve the sharpness and detail of the two-color 3D effect in color coded stereo programs. See articles Stereoscopy and 3-D film. Video formats There are different layers of video transmission and storage, each with its own set of formats to choose from. For transmission, there is a physical connector and signal protocol ("video connection standard" below). A given physical link can carry certain "display standards" which specify a particular refresh rate, display resolution, and color space. There are a number of analog and digital tape formats, though digital video files can also be stored on a computer file system which have their own formats. In addition to the physical format used by the storage or transmission medium, the stream of ones and zeros that is sent must be in a particular digital video "encoding", of which a number are available. Video connectors, cables, and signal standards See List of video connectors for information about physical connectors and related signal standards. Video display standards Digital television New formats for digital television broadcasts use the MPEG-2 video codec and include: ATSC - USA, Canada, Korea DVB - Europe ISDB - Japan ISDB-Tb - Uses the MPEG-4 video codec. Brazil, Peru DMB - Korea Analog television Analog television broadcast standards include: FCS - USA, Russia; obsolete MAC - Europe; obsolete MUSE - Japan NTSC - USA, Canada, Japan PAL - Europe, Asia, Oceania PAL-M - PAL variation. Brazil PALplus - PAL extension, Europe RS-343 (military) SECAM - France, Former Soviet Union, Central Africa An analog video format consists of more information than the visible content of the frame. Preceding and following the image are lines and pixels containing synchronization information or a time delay. This surrounding margin is known as a blanking interval or blanking region; the horizontal and vertical front porch and back porch are the building blocks of the blanking interval.

Many countries are planning a digital switchover soon. Computer displays See Computer display standard for a list of standards used for computer monitors and comparison with those used for television. Recording Formats before Video Tape Kinescope Analog tape formats 1" Type B video tape (Bosch) 1" Type C videotape (Ampex and Sony) 2" Quadruplex videotape (Ampex) Ampex Betacam Betacam SP Betamax (Sony) S-VHS (JVC) (1987) W-VHS (JVC) (1994) U-matic (Sony) VCR, VCR-LP, SVR VERA (BBC experimental format ca. 1958) VHS (JVC) VHS-C (JVC) Video 2000 (Philips) (See List of video recording formats.) Digital tape formats Betacam IMX (Sony) D-VHS (JVC) D-Theater D1 (Sony) D2 (Sony) D3 D5 HD Digital-S D9 (JVC) Digital Betacam (Sony) Digital8 (Sony) DV HDV ProHD (JVC) MicroMV MiniDV Optical disc storage formats Blu-ray Disc (Sony) CBHD DVD (was Super Density Disc, DVD Forum) UMD (Sony) Discontinued Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD, Chinese government-sponsored) HD DVD (NEC and Toshiba) HD-VMD Laserdisc (old, MCA and Philips) Digital encoding formats CCIR 601 (ITU-T) H.261 (ITU-T) H.263 (ITU-T) H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (ITU-T + ISO) M-JPEG (ISO) MPEG-1 (ISO) MPEG-2 (ITU-T + ISO) MPEG-4 (ISO) Ogg-Theora VC-1 (SMPTE) See also: Video codec and list of codecs Standards System M System B v · d · eVideo storage formats Videotape Analog Quadruplex (1956) · VERA (1958) · Type A (1965) · CV-2000 (1965) · Akai (1967) · U-matic (1969) · EIAJ-1 (1969) · Cartrivision (1972) · Philips VCR (1972) · V-Cord (1974) · VX (1974) · Betamax (1975) · IVC (1975) · Type B (1976) · Type C (1976) · VHS (1976) · VK (1977) · SVR (1979) · Video 2000 (1980) · CVC (1980) · VHS-C (1982) · M (1982) · Betacam (1982) · Video8 (1985) · MII (1986) · S-VHS (1987) · S-VHS-C (1987) · Hi8 (1989) · W-VHS (1994) Digital

D1 (1986) · D2 (1988) · D3 (1991) · DCT (1992) · Digital Betacam (1993) · D5 (1994) · DV (1995) · Digital-S (D9) (1995) · DVCPRO (1995) · Betacam SX (1996) · DVCAM (1996) · HDCAM (1997) · DVCPRO50 (1997) · D-VHS (1998) · Digital8 (1999) · DVCPRO HD (2000) · D6 HDTV VTR (2000) · MicroMV (2001) · HDV (2003) · HDCAM SR (2003) Videodisc Analog Phonovision (1927) · Ampex-HS (1967) · TeD (1975) · Laserdisc (1978) · CED (1981) · VHD (1983) · Laserfilm (1984) · CD Video (1987) Digital VCD (1993) · MovieCD (c. 1995) · DVD/DVD-Video (1995) · MiniDVD (c. 1995) · CVD (1998) · SVCD (1998) · EVD (2003) · XDCAM (2003) · HVD (High-Definition Versatile Disc) (2004) · FVD (2005) · UMD (2005) · VMD (2006) High Definition HD DVD (2006) · Blu-ray Disc (2006) · HVD (Holographic Versatile Disc) (2007) · CBHD (2008) Solid state P2 (2004) · SxS(2007) Digital Tapeless Editcam (1995) · MOD (2005) · AVCHD (2006) · AVC-Intra (2006) · TOD (2007) · iFrame (2009) Video recorded to film Kinescope (1947) · Electronicam kinescope (1950s) · Electronic Video Recording (1967) See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Video General Audio List of video topics Video clips Video editing Video format Analog television Cable television Color space Digital television Digital video Film formats Interlaced Progressive scan Satellite television Telecine Television Timecode Video codec Video usage Closed-circuit television Fulldome video Optical feedback Video art Interactive video Video production Video projector Video synthesizer Video teleconference Video communication Video screen recording Screencast

Projects Redesign project References This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010) This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (August 2008) External links Video as Arts at the Open Directory Project Video as Media Production at the Open Directory Project Programmer's Guide to Video Systems: in-depth technical info on 480i, 576i, 1080i, 720p, etc.