News for October 2008

Safe Areas…

The following table lists safe areas for different aspect ratios.

Aspect ratio Horizontal action safe Vertical action safe Horizontal title safe Vertical title safe
16:9 3.5% from edge 3.5% from edge 5% from edge 5% from edge
16:9 protected for 4:3 (4:3 center cut-out) 15.13% from edge 3.5% from edge 16.25% from edge 5% from edge
4:3 protected for 16:9 (16:9 center cut-out) 3.5% from edge 15.13% from edge 5% from edge 16.25% from edge
1:1.85 3.5% from edge 3.5% from edge 5% from edge 5% from edge
1:1.85 protected for 4:3 (4:3 center cut-out) 16.57% from edge 16.57% from edge 17.65% from edge 5% from edge
1:1.85 protected for 16:9 (16:9 center cut-out) 5.3% from edge 5.3% from edge 6.7% from edge 5% from edge

(Excerpted from Fix It In Post)

Posted: October 15th, 2008
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Common Digital Audio Formats…

The following table lists key characteristics of common digital image file formats.

Format Bit-depth (per sample) Sampling rate (kHz) Channels Lossy compression Lossless compression Embedded metadata
PCM Wave (WAV)* ∞ ∞ ∞
MPEG Layer-3 (MP3) ∞ 48 2
x
x
Vorbis (OGG) ∞ 200 255
x
PCM Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)* ∞ ∞ ∞
x
Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) 32 1,048.57 8
x
x
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) ∞ 192 48
x
Microsoft Windows Media Audio (WMA) 24 96 8
x
x
x
Dolby Digital AC-3 (AC3) 16 48 6
x
Dolby TrueHD 24 96 14
x
Digital Theater System Coherent Acoustics (DTS) 24 48 6
x
DTS-HD Master Audio (Stereo mode) 24 192 2
x
DTS-HD Master Audio (Multichannel mode) 24 96 8
x

*Wave and AIFF are container formats that are used in conjunction with various audio codecs, which may impose limits on each property.

Posted: October 15th, 2008
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Common Digital Image Formats…

The following table lists key characteristics of common digital image file formats.

Format Bit depth (per pixel) Color model Lossy compression Lossless compression Layers Alpha channels Embedded timecode Additional features
Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) Various Various
x
x
x
x
 Supports all feature of TIFF specification, various metadata
xAdobe Photoshop Document (PSD) Various Various
x
x
x
 Supports vectors, parametric image operations, color profiles, other metadata
Kodak Cineon (CIN) 30 Logarithmic RGB, linear RGB
x
 Can store key numbers, other metadata
CompuServe Graphical Interchange Format (GIF) 8 Indexed RGB Supports animation, keyed alpha
SMPTE Digital Picture Exchange (DPX) 24, 30 Logarithmic RGB, linear RGB
x
 Supports all features of Cineon specification
JPEG 24 Linear RGB
x
x
JPEG-2000 Various Various
x
x
x
 Supports color profiles, other metadata
TIFF Various Various
x
x
x
x
 Several variants of the TIFF format are available, such as LogLuv and Pixar, allowing for different dynamic ranges, supports color profiles, other metadata
OpenEXR 48 Logarithmic HDR
x
x
 Covers 9.6 orders of magnitude with 0.1% precision, can store key numbers, other metadata
Radiance 32 Logarithmic HDR
x
 Covers 76 orders of magnitude with 1.0% precision
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) 24 Linear RGB
x
x
Targa (TGA) 24 Linear RGB
x
Windows Bitmap (BMP) 8, 24 Linear RGB
Posted: October 15th, 2008
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Standard Video Characteristics…

The following table lists key characteristics of popular analogue and digital video formats. Figures shown are the maximum supported by the format specification in each case.

Format Frame rate Field order Color sampling Bandwidth Compression Precision
Digital Betacam (NTSC) 29.97 Upper first 4:2:2 90 Mb/s 2.31:1 10-bit
Digital Betacam (PAL) 25 Upper first 4:2:2 90 Mb/s 2.31:1 10-bit
D1 (NTSC) 29.97 Lower first 4:2:2 270 Mb/s 1:1 8-bit
D1 (PAL) 25 Lower first 4:2:2 270 Mb/s 1:1 8-bit
Digital8 (NTSC) 29.97 Lower first 4:1:1 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
Digital8 (PAL) 25 Lower first 4:2:0 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DV-SP (NTSC) 29.97 Lower first 4:1:1 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DV-SP (PAL) 25 Lower first 4:2:0 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DVCAM (NTSC) 29.97 Lower first 4:1:1 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DVCAM (PAL) 25 Lower first 4:2:0 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DVCPRO (NTSC) 29.97 Lower first 4:1:1 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DVCPRO (PAL) 25 Lower first 4:1:1 25 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DVCPRO 50 29.97 Lower first 4:2:2 50 Mb/s 3.3:1 8-bit
DVCPRO-P 30p n/a 4:2:0 50 Mb/s 5:1 8-bit
DVD (NTSC) 29.97 Upper first 4:2:0 9.8 Mb/s 22:1 (MPEG-2) 8-bit
DVD (PAL) 25 Upper first 4:2:0 9.8 Mb/s 22:1 (MPEG-2) 8-bit
Betacam SX (NTSC) 29.97 Upper first 4:2:2 18 Mb/s 10:1 (MPEG-2) 8-bit
Betacam SX (PAL) 25 Upper first 4:2:2 18 Mb/s 10:1 (MPEG-2) 8-bit
HDV @720p 25p, 30p n/a 4:2:0 25 Mb/s 22.5:1 (MPEG-2) 8-bit
HDV @1080i 25, 30 Upper first 4:2:0 25 Mb/s 22.5:1 (MPEG-2) 8-bit
DVCProHD-100 25, 29.97, 29.97p, 30, 30p Lower first 4:2:2 100 Mb/s 6.7:1 8-bit
HDD5 23.98p, 24p, 25, 25p, 29.97, 29.97p, 30, 30p Upper first 4:2:2 250 Mb/s 4:1 (8-bit), 5:1 (10-bit) 8-bit, 10-bit
HDCAM 23.98p, 24p, 25, 25p, 29.97, 29.97p, 30, 30p Upper first 3:1:1 143 Mb/s 7.1:1 8-bit
HDCAM SR 23.98p, 24p, 25, 25p, 29.97, 29.97p, 30, 30p Upper first 4:4:4, 4:4:4 (log), 4:2:2 880 Mb/s (4:4:4), 440 Mb/s (4:2:2) 4.2:1 (MPEG-4, 4:4:4), 2.7:1 (MPEG-4, 4:2:2) 10-bit
Blu-ray 23.98p, 24p, 25, 25p, 29.97, 29.97p, 30, 30p Upper first 4:2:0 40 Mb/s 25:1 8-bit
Posted: October 15th, 2008
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Film Dimensions…

The following table lists the physical dimensions for various film formats.

Format Width (mm) Height (mm) Aspect ratio
16mm 10.26 7.49 1.37
Super-16 12.52 7.42 1.69
35mm (Academy) 21.94 16.00 1.37
35mm (Cinemascope) 21.94 18.59 2.35 (unsqueezed)
35mm (Full aperture) 24.89 18.67 1.33
Vista-vision (8-perf) 37.71 25.17 1.5
Posted: October 15th, 2008
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