480p is the shorthand name for a family of video

display resolutions The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is ...

. The p stands for

progressive scan Progressive scanning (alternatively referred to as noninterlaced scanning) is a format of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to interlaced video used ...

, i.e. non-

interlaced Interlaced video (also known as interlaced scan) is a technique for doubling the perceived frame rate of a video display without consuming extra bandwidth. The interlaced signal contains two fields of a video frame captured consecutively. This ...

. The ''480'' denotes a vertical resolution of 480

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

s, usually with a horizontal resolution of 640

s and 4:3 aspect ratio ( 640) or a horizontal resolution of 854 or less (848 should be used for mod16 compatibility) pixels for an approximate 16:9 aspect ratio ( 853.). Since a pixel count must be a whole number, in

Wide VGA The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...

displays it is generally rounded up to 854 to ensure inclusion of the entire image. The frames are displayed progressively as opposed to

. 480p was used for many early plasma televisions.

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

Glossary - 480p

Standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

has always been a 4:3 aspect ratio with a pixel resolution of at 60 Hz for

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

regions, and 720 or for

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

regions (1024 wide for

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

displays). However, standard definition defines a 15.7k Hz horizontal scanrate, which means that interlacing has to be used for those resolution modes. The lowercase letter "p" in 480p stands for progressive, so the two must not be confused.

ATSC progressive mode standards

The

ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards are an American set of standards for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable and satellite networks. It is largely a replacement for the analog NTSC standard and, like that ...

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...

standards define 480p with 640×480p (4:3) pixel resolutions, at 24, 30, or 60 frames per second. When 480p30 is broadcast on air, it is frame doubled then interlaced to 480i60. The spatial resolution hasn't changed, but a 480p video stored in digital RGB format is transcoded and modulated when broadcast on the analog television network. 24 fps however, needs to be processed using the 3:2 pulldown technique to be broadcast to TVs, even if the spatial resolution in the stored media is the same as the output resolution.

Resolutions

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References

{{TV resolution Television terminology Video formats

ATSC progressive mode standards

Resolutions

See also

References