I might be showing my ignorance here, but this is the only thing I've never seen is the difference in HD between NTSC and PAL. I know the difference between SD signals (480 vs 520 IIRC) and refresh rate (60 vs something else)
In terms of HD, isn't 720 or 1080 the same thing? And if it's Blu-Ray, isn't it 24p no matter what?
NTSC vs PAL is for the DVD side of things. While it's possible for the SD side of the Blu-ray system to have content in 480i60 or 576i50, I believe (and am open to correction) that all BD players are supposed to play it regardless of whether they support NTSC or PAL. But, in any case, you'd be hard pressed to find the main feature on a BD formatted as 480i60 or 576i50 - those rates are generally used for extras that were originally filmed using a video camera.
Blu-ray Disc supports a variety of framerates and resolutions. Framerates are generally 24/25/30/50 and 60 for 720p and 1080p/1080i. Almost all HD content on BD is 1080p24, but you'll find HD content from TV will often be 1080i60 in the future. 480p is available at 24, 30, and I think 60. 480i is available at 60. 576p is available at 25 and possibly 50 (I'd have to look it up), and 576i50 is also available. Essentially it's most of the DVD resolution-framerate combinations added to various 1080p, 1080i, and 720p variants.
I believe HD DVD went one step further and supported VCD resolutions on top of the above, because it kind of inherited all DVD resolutions, and DVD included VCD resolutions from the start even though they were practically never used. I have no idea of BD also supports VCD resolutions. It would be kind of cool if it did, and somewhat hilarious if you used it.
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I might be showing my ignorance here, but this is the only thing I've never seen is the difference in HD between NTSC and PAL. I know the difference between SD signals (480 vs 520 IIRC) and refresh rate (60 vs something else)
In terms of HD, isn't 720 or 1080 the same thing? And if it's Blu-Ray, isn't it 24p no matter what?
NTSC vs PAL is for the DVD side of things. While it's possible for the SD side of the Blu-ray system to have content in 480i60 or 576i50, I believe (and am open to correction) that all BD players are supposed to play it regardless of whether they support NTSC or PAL. But, in any case, you'd be hard pressed to find the main feature on a BD formatted as 480i60 or 576i50 - those rates are generally used for extras that were originally filmed using a video camera.
Blu-ray Disc supports a variety of framerates and resolutions. Framerates are generally 24/25/30/50 and 60 for 720p and 1080p/1080i. Almost all HD content on BD is 1080p24, but you'll find HD content from TV will often be 1080i60 in the future. 480p is available at 24, 30, and I think 60. 480i is available at 60. 576p is available at 25 and possibly 50 (I'd have to look it up), and 576i50 is also available. Essentially it's most of the DVD resolution-framerate combinations added to various 1080p, 1080i, and 720p variants.
I believe HD DVD went one step further and supported VCD resolutions on top of the above, because it kind of inherited all DVD resolutions, and DVD included VCD resolutions from the start even though they were practically never used. I have no idea of BD also supports VCD resolutions. It would be kind of cool if it did, and somewhat hilarious if you used it.