What is HD ?

[Roy]

It would save a lot of heartbreak if prospective buyers of HD equipment study the specs of the equipment before they purchase.

[PeterVideo]

There is in place an Industry agreement that the phrase/logo HD ready - you have seen the stickers - which is effectively defined as covering the 720p and 1080i formats.However I think this only covers display kit ie TV's. Any description applied to camcorders is at the mercy of the marketeer and is not covered by any agreement. Full HD has been adopted to distinguish 1080p from the lesser HD 1080i etc. descriptors - the logo looks like it is an agreed standard but I cannot be sure.

Incidentally just a few hundred yards from here is very large building with a blue plaque which says that that the world's first High Definition Television service was launched here - that of course was in 1936 v from Ally Pally and it was 405 lines!

Peter Kidman
Finchley Film Makers