WHAT IS A CODEC?

CODEC IS NOT A TYPO ON KODAK.

CODEC MEANS "COMPRESSION DECOMPRESSION".

When using High Definition cameras the analog signal is converted to 

digital bytes and the information takes up to much space for the device 

it is recorded on so it must be compressed when it is being captured or photographed.

I can be captured or (compressed) on P2 card ( above) or a HD Cam tape or an HD Cam SR tape e.t.c.

When the information that has been captured is played from one of the above mediums

it is then Decompressed.

Some Codec's have "Lossless" compression while others do not.

What does Pixel stand for?

The definition of pixel is Picture Element.

Therefore many Pixels or Mega Pixels ( 1 Mega Pixel= 1 Million Pixels) help to make up an image on a digital film or still camera.

What is Tape-less Media?

This Panasonic P2 Card (which stands for Professional Plug in)

This 16GB (Giga Byte) P2 Card is actually four 4GB SD Cards in an array.

So 4GBx4GB=16GB's

Sound and video is recorded onto these cards with different forms of compression.

Some of the great things about tape-less media is that it is infinitely reusable

and  there is no need to digitize as you would with film or tape.

Panasonic has just released 64GB cards.

Stay tuned for the next posting as to what an SD card is!

WHAT IS 1080P?

1080p stands for one thousand and 80 progressively scanned  vertical lines in 

on a High Def TV.

Progressive is the opposite of Interlaced, and is a better looking picture in most cases.

What does DI mean?

DI stands for Digital Intermediate.

A digital intermediate "session" is what takes place when a movie and or TV commercial is 

in the very final stages of completion.

What usually happens is the DP ( Director of Photography, Cinematographer, Cameraman) sits in a very dark room with a person that is called a Colorist who works on really cool looking machines that cost lots of money and make corrections to the color of a shot or particular piece of a shot or make a color movie a black and white movie.

This is all done digitally, ( as opposed to Photo Chemically) which is then stored on hard drive and sent to a Arri Film Scanner where the corrected information is then laser scanned onto FILM Negative so it can then be sent

to a place called Deluxe Laboratories so they can make 1000's of FILM Prints for the movie theaters.

WHAT IS HIGH DEFINITION?

"High Definition when referring to a Television program means that anything 720 vertical lines or more is "high definition".

Now this brings up the question what is less than 720 vertical lines of resolution called?

This is called Standard Definition or some times referred to as SD.

So before HD there was SD and we payed a lot less for TV sets.