Why 2k instead of 1080 24P?

[Cueto]

Lately i’ve been quoting a film conform job. My client wants a 2k film conform to then prin it out to film.

Whille thinking about the workflow for such a huge job in 2K i came accross one interesting fact.

1080 has more effective resolution than a 2K scan.
here is how i arrive at this conclussion.

a 2k scan at full aperture measures 2048×1556.
to this frame we should substract the black matting for correct display at the theater (unless it is anamorphic, a wholle diferent ballgame)
lets say the director wishes to go 1.85 to the theater
that means that the effective resolution that will be displayed on the theater would be 2048×1107 ( I have substracted in pixels the amount of vertical resolution used up by the black matting)

now..
my HD frame is 1920×1080 and its already at a 16×9 format. which isn’t exactly the same as 1.85, but pretty close (i think it is 1.77)
to my 1920×1080 we would have to add the black matting for the edges.

aren’t this 2 spatial resolutions almost identical? Which one is better then?

just a tad confused

Frank Cueto
Reaktor Post
San Juan

[Anonymous]

If you shot in film maybe you would keep the bigger information amount (about luminance) compared to the hd format (only if you do a telecine on hd tape), and if you haven’t put the matte box probably you can better center your frame (if you need it).
Feel free to decide which should be the best format for you.

HTH

Francesco

[Anonymous]

If you think only spatial resolution it is more simple to use really realtime HD preset. Thats because you can work in realtime until the job finish.
But it is one special case. If you know it is much more aspect ratios used in motion-picture industry – 1.37, 1.66, 1.77, 1.85 and (as you say) 2.35. You right, the 2.35 aspect is “different ballgame”. But for the rest you must crop final images before send it to film-recorder to eliminate black borders.
Also you need to know which type of film-recorder will be used. Now the majority of labs use ARRI Laser. This recorder use for images 1828 pixels (2048 pix = image frame + audio track). So you have next values for vertical resolutions: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].
And finally, dynamic range of HD format limited in compare with scan of negative film in DPX format. Usually, the artefacts appear in hilites areas of image. And no monitors/projectors exist capable to display a huge contrast ratio of film. The only exclusion is experimental combined LED/TFT monitor. Let alone a 4:2:2 problem and 10 bit-log vs 10-12 bit-lin.

[Author]

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