What resolution were DVDs scanned at?

[Tetsuo27]

I understand that a film scanned at 4K for blu-ray is the preferred and most desired version but there are instances when blu-rays are released with the same digital master made for DVD and I am wondering, in general, what res were films scanned at for DVD?

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo27

I understand that a film scanned at 4K for blu-ray is the preferred and most desired version but there are instances when blu-rays are released with the same digital master made for DVD and I am wondering, in general, what res were films scanned at for DVD?

Scanning is done for archival purposes, for example if a film is scanned at 4k for BD they will use the same 4k for DVD and the encoder will down convert it to DVD resolution or BD resolution depending on what it will be used for. So there is no BD or DVD scans. Usually you scan at the highest resolution you can because it is always better to capture more detail even if it will be down converted (i.e. that is why you talk 4k for BD) because the encoder can use the extra detail in order to better decide where to compress. Now that being said there is tech, processing and cost involved. If you scan at 4k instead of 2k you need 4x the space and if it is 8k it is 16x 2k and 4x 4k. Now in 1997 HDD was a lot more expensive then it is today and I don't even know if 4k scanners existed, but even before BD launched some studios started archiving at 4k just as some films are now being archived in 8k. But the reality is most of the films will have 2k digital masters

note: just in case you don't know with TVs (1080p) we count the pixels in the height of the image while with film they refer to the width so 1080p->1080x1920 ~ 2k (1080p has a few less pixels in each direction)

[Tetsuo27]

Thanks, I suppose I should've just asked when 4K scanners started to be used and what was the standard res a film was scanned at before HD/blu-ray.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo27

I understand that a film scanned at 4K for blu-ray is the preferred and most desired version but there are instances when blu-rays are released with the same digital master made for DVD and I am wondering, in general, what res were films scanned at for DVD?

Many Blu-rays, HDTV broadcasts and DVDs come from the same older scan which was often done at 1080p then downrez'd for DVD. Many early DVDs (1997, 1998) came from laser disc scans which were done at 480i or even less I believe. I think laser disc had a resolution under 400...cannot remember.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by heavyhitter

many blu-rays, hdtv broadcasts and dvds come from the same older scan which was often done at 1080p then downrez'd for dvd. Many early dvds (1997, 1998) came from laser disc scans which were done at 480i or even less i believe. I think laser disc had a resolution under 400...cannot remember.

360.

[KrugStillo]

I'm very curious about this as well. I'm not sure the question has been legitimately answered. If I ran a company like Anchor Bay and I aquired a film and I wanted to make a DVD transfer only (because it's 2000). What resolution would my master tape be? This of course is the Digibeta or whatever it's called actual master tape. Would it be 1920 by 1080? Or would it be lower or higher? Obviously this would then be recompressed to a DVD compliant Mpeg-2 stream but I want to know what the resolution of that master actually was, in most common cases. Let see if anyone can answer this.

[ZoetMB]

Found on the web:

Digital Betacam, AKA Digibeta or D-Beta, was introduced by Sony in 1993 as a replacement for the analog Betacam SP format. Digital Betacam was superior in performance to DVCam and DVCPro, while being cheaper than D1.

Digital Betacam attracted a fair amount of professional support but didn't go as far as to become an industry standard like it's predecessor.

Cassette sizes are the same as other Beta versions: S (small) tapes record up to 40 minutes, L (large) tapes record up to 124 minutes. Cassettes are light blue.

Digital betacam records component video with 10-bit YUV 4:2:2 compression. PAL resolution is 720x576, NTSC resolution is 720x480. The bitrate is 90 Mbit/s. There are 5 audio channels — 4 main channels (uncompressed 48KHz PCM) and 1 cue track.

Some Digital Betcam equipment is backwards-compatible with Betacam and Betacam SP.

Also:
D1

So-called "full resolution" for TV specs. Normally D1 can mean one of the following video resolutions:
* 704x576 (TV PAL)
* 704x480 (TV NTSC)
* 720x576 (DVD-Video PAL)
* 720x480 (DVD-Video NTSC)

[Tetsuo27]

Thanks people who posted here

This thread has actually helped me. Well, helped my curiosity if nothing else!

[pittsgutta]

How is that right?

[UFAlien]

Right. Scans and masters are leaning towards 2K and 4K now. In DVD, especially the early days, that wasn't the case. Many were LaserDisc ports, some were even VHS ports.

Someone mentioned Anchor Bay. I know they had a "DiviMax" line of DVDs, usually double-dips. They were always advertised as new HD masters. Whether that meant 2K, 4K, 1080p, 1080i, 720p - who knows. But it DOES imply the old masters they were using were sub-HD.

[KrugStillo]

This is very fascinating info. Thanks to all. So in essence most of the old masters may have actually only been 720 by 480 if they were archived to broadcast tape (digibeta or D1). I guess once they started touting HD it could have been anywhere fro 720p all the way up to 2K. Only the folks with the actual masters would know. What does say a company like Echo Bridge get when they do their blus? We know in most cases they use recycled cable masters but what format do they receive that on? Is it some sort of HD tape like the previous broadcast masters or do they actually get files on hard drives? I have always been curious how this works.

[Truewitt]

Originally Posted by KrugStillo

This is very fascinating info. Thanks to all. So in essence most of the old masters may have actually only been 720 by 480 if they were archived to broadcast tape (digibeta or D1). I guess once they started touting HD it could have been anywhere fro 720p all the way up to 2K. Only the folks with the actual masters would know. What does say a company like Echo Bridge get when they do their blus? We know in most cases they use recycled cable masters but what format do they receive that on? Is it some sort of HD tape like the previous broadcast masters or do they actually get files on hard drives? I have always been curious how this works.

As for your questions, the answer is it could be either. Some are supplied as tapes, D5s and such, or they can be delivered as high-res digital files.

[blueshadow | Kosty]

Originally Posted by KrugStillo

This is very fascinating info. Thanks to all. So in essence most of the old masters may have actually only been 720 by 480 if they were archived to broadcast tape (digibeta or D1). I guess once they started touting HD it could have been anywhere fro 720p all the way up to 2K. Only the folks with the actual masters would know. What does say a company like Echo Bridge get when they do their blus? We know in most cases they use recycled cable masters but what format do they receive that on? Is it some sort of HD tape like the previous broadcast masters or do they actually get files on hard drives? I have always been curious how this works.

That's exactly right.

Many older DVDs were made off relatively low resolution masters. Current DVDs are generally made from higher resolution sources and just down converted to DVD 480i60 resolution.

[pro-bassoonist]

I don't know what masters the big studios in the U.S. used - though I am fairly sure that they were all analog masters - but I can tell you with absolute certainty about three of the biggest studios in Europe: immediately after DVD was established the 'masters' were S-VHS. Then later on the U.S. studios started doing new analog scans, etc., and eventually things moved to 2K scans (much later).

These new 4K/8K massive restorations are very recent. Until not too long ago, the technology was simply not there for the studios to do, AND afford, these types of restorations and use them as 'masters'.

Pro-B