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Friday, October 10, 2008

Why knowing is better

I've always had a bit of a problem with the concept of the "generic stand-alone" DVR. Sure, many aren't adorned with beautiful logos and festooned with stickers announcing their support web site. But, someone made the thing ... and they made it to perform in a certain way. That "certain way" is key to clarifying the images that come from it.



Let's look at the specs from King Pigeon Hi-Tech Co., Ltd.'s SD080 DVR. What jumps out at you? Notice the difference between the Record Resolution and the Display Resolution? How many times does 352 go into 720? Answer: 2.04545454545. The math in going from 240 to 480 isn't as bad. But, how does it get there? What does it mean for your process and your workflow? If you are working with a proprietary player and still export program from the manufacturer, how do you account for the interpolation - or do you?

In Photoshop, you can create a custom Pixel Aspect Ratio for display purposes, Image>Pixel Aspect Ratio>Custom Pixel Aspect Ratio. But, when you go to print that 704x240 image ... you'll need to fix the aspect a bit more permanently (previously covered topic alert).  

You may not know the answers now ... but you should before going to trial. Attorneys are getting much smarter about these things.

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