480p is the shorthand name for a family of video
display resolutions. The p stands for
progressive scan, 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
pixels, usually with a
horizontal resolution of 640
pixels 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 displays it is generally rounded up to 854 to ensure inclusion of the entire image. The
frames are displayed progressively as opposed to
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 ...
. 480p was used for many early
plasma televisions.[ CNET ]
Glossary - 480p
Standard definition 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 regions (1024 wide for
widescreen 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 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 adva ...
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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See also
*
Enhanced-definition television (EDTV)
*
List of common resolutions
*
4320p,
2160p,
1080p
1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen ve ...
,
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scree ...
,
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcas ...
,
576p
576p is the shorthand name for a video display resolution. The ''p'' stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced, the ''576'' for a vertical resolution of 576 pixels (the frame rate can be given explicitly after the letter). Usually it corr ...
,
576i
576i is a standard-definition digital video mode, originally used for digitizing analog television in most countries of the world where the utility frequency for electric power distribution is 50 Hz. Because of its close association wit ...
,
480i
480i is the video mode used for standard-definition digital television in the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Laos, Western Sahara, and most of the Americas (with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). T ...
,
360p
Low-definition television (LDTV) refers to TV systems that have a lower screen resolution than standard-definition TV systems. The term is usually used in reference to digital TV, in particular when broadcasting at the same (or similar) resoluti ...
,
240p
*
Display Resolution
References
{{TV resolution
Television terminology
Video formats