resolution of 35 mm film as compared with Blu-ray formats

[alok kumar]

hello,
im new to this forum.
what really makes me curious is the resolution of a blu-ray picture as compared with standard 35mm movies being projected in cinema halls.
are blu-ray projectors for the big screen existing?are better projection
systems available?
if not will blu-ray grow to meet that requirement..can it replace movie making
from 35 mm to hd.
instead of transferring from film to blu-ray...would a direct capture and projection give better results.
reversly could blu-ray be better transferred to film after digital editing and sp effects?..are editing programmes for blu-ray format available or in pipeline?
is it possible to convert from one format to another for telecasting now?
can tv stations convert the formats themselves for their specific telecasts?
also please compare all these points with hd dvd keeping universality in mind
when i read about blu-ray to-day-these were the thoughts that came to my mind.could some one please enlighten me.

[AV_Integrated]

There are many discussions comparing film to HD resolutions, but it seems that film masters still have a bit of an edge in quality over some of the highest defintion formats available.

Yet, Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III were all shot entirely in HD using digital cameras.

Don't confuse Blu-Ray with data. Blu-Ray is like a hard drive on your computer. It allows for the storage of data. It can use any number of different video formats in any number of resolutions.

Is it comparible to what you will find in a cinema? Yes, it will look very close, if not better than what your average theater will have. But, some cinemas are already digital and already use DLP projectors to show movies.

Converting from one format to another? That falls back into the area of data conversion. Converting one data format to another is done all the time and is a standard part of what television stations do. It has nothing at all to do with Blu-Ray disc or HD-DVD. It is all about the actual data that is on those discs.

[Alex Pallas]

what you really want to compare is HQ-MPEG1 to 35mm. by the way what format is the HD-DVD camp going with?

[Blue]

This is a real good question. I would suggest it's inferior hence the 4k cinema standard. Just looking at pixels to simplify things (I realise there are many other factors), for 35mm cameras a figure of 25Mp for an equivalent to film transparency. However a 35mm still camera has a much larger area than 35mm movie working on pixels / mm
Slide (Still camera) = 240
1080p (BD) = 93
4K Cinema = 194
There are many other factors but this should give an indication.

Remember BD is designed as a domestic standard so 120" screen would be Large screen for most domestic homes whereas twice that size would be considered small for a cinema. Comparing the 4k vs 1080p with the above screen sizes the pixel count is almost identical. So a 300" cinema screen vs 120" domestic screen BD is marginally higher quality at home than 35mm film in a cinema. There are many other factors both good and bad for both film and digital (e.g. film = jitter, screen perforations etc - Digital = compression, colour purity etc). Remember domestic 1080p projectors don't exist at the moment as I don't count a US$10K price tag as a domestic projector - however this will change very quickly over the next few years just as 720p did.

Remember if viewing on a 20" screen there will not be as big a difference between HD and SD compared to viewing both on a 120" screen.
Don't forget the biggest advantage for digital - it doesn't degrade over time - well anthing like the speed of film (many films have been lost for all time) and many other films have come close including the original Star Wars.

[AV_Integrated]

One of the key comparison factors is the ability to ignore the originals.

That is, when a film is shot, is entirely mastered and put onto the highest quality of film stock... That is NOT what you actually see in theaters. It is then run through analog reproduction schemes for mass marketing which typically severely impact the actual quality and resolution of what people see in the theater.

Digital doesn't have this issue. Digital, as long as it isn't corrupted, will be pixel-for-pixel as perfect 50 years from now as it was the day it was originally purchased. Digital copies are bit-for-bit, frame-for-frame identical to their digital masters (at the same resolution). So, true 1080p home cinema with a 1.5x viewing distance (THX) will often look better than traditional analog cinema, except for those few movies which are copied at the highest quality levels possible.

Digital cinema at 4k resolution is designed to be a step up in overall quality from film. Not only digital in origin, but as smooth and flawless as the analog masters.

[alok kumar]

thanks for the info...well i did understand that this is a recording/playback medium that can store more data per disc.but,i needed more answers on other aspects as well.im glad i got some very good answers...thanks!i still have some technical queries,which i will post soon..hope to hear from you all then.