An Introduction to Video 101

Video is an electronic medium for recording, copying, playing back, broadcasting, and displaying moving visual and audio media.

Video technology was first developed for cathode ray tube (CRT) television systems, but several new technologies for video display devices have since been invented. Charles Ginsburg led an Ampex research team developing one of the first practical video tape recorders (VTR). In 1951 the first video tape recorder captured live images from television cameras by converting the camera's electrical impulses and saving the information onto magnetic video tape.

Video recorders were sold for $50,000 in 1956, and videotapes cost $300 per one-hour reel. However, prices gradually dropped over the years; in 1971, Sony began selling videocassette recorder (VCR) decks and tapes to the public. After the invention of the DVD in 1997 and Blu-ray Disc in 2006, sales of videotape and recording equipment plummeted.

Later advances in computer technology allowed computers to capture, store, edit, and transmit video clips.

Video can be interlaced or progressive. Interlacing was invented as a way to reduce flicker in early mechanical and CRT video displays without increasing the number of complete frames per second, which would have sacrificed image detail to remain within the limitations of a narrow bandwidth. The horizontal scan lines of each complete frame are treated as if numbered consecutively and captured as two fields: an odd field (upper field) consisting of the odd-numbered lines and an even field (lower field) consisting of the even-numbered lines.

Analog display devices reproduce each frame in the same way, effectively doubling the frame rate as far as perceptible overall flicker is concerned. When the image capture device acquires the fields one at a time, rather than dividing up a complete frame after it is captured, the frame rate for motion is effectively doubled as well, resulting in smoother, more lifelike reproduction (although with halved detail) of rapidly moving parts of the image when viewed on an interlaced CRT display, but the display of such a signal on a progressive scan device is problematic.

NTSC, PAL, and SECAM are interlaced formats. Abbreviated video resolution specifications often include an i to indicate interlacing. For example, the PAL video format is often specified as 576i50, where 576 indicates the total number of horizontal scan lines, I indicate interlacing, and 50 indicates 50 fields (half-frames) per second.

In progressive scan systems, each refresh period updates all scan lines in each frame in sequence. When displaying a natively progressive broadcast or recorded signal, the result is the optimum spatial resolution of both the stationary and moving parts of the image. When displaying a natively interlaced signal, however, overall spatial resolution is degraded by simple line doubling—artifacts such as flickering or "comb" effects in moving parts of the image appear unless special signal processing eliminates them. A procedure known as deinterlacing can optimize the display of an interlaced video signal from an analog, DVD, or satellite source on a progressive scan device such as an LCD Television, digital video projector, or plasma panel. Deinterlacing cannot, however, produce video quality that is equivalent to true progressive scan source material.

The aspect ratio describes the dimensions of video screens and video picture elements used in TV Installations and Home Theaters. 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 the soundtrack (also known as the Academy ratio) is 1.375:1.

Ratios, where height is taller than width, are uncommon in general everyday use but are used in computer systems where some applications are 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 its normal position. Other tall aspect ratios, such as 9:16, are technically possible but rarely used. (For a detailed discussion of this topic, see page orientation.)

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, a 720 by 480 pixel NTSC DV image displays with the 4:3 aspect ratio (the traditional television standard) if the pixels are thin and displays at the 16:9 aspect ratio (the anamorphic widescreen format) if the pixels are fat.