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Line standards and definition

There are two main structural standards for High Definition (HD), one based on a pixel layout of 1920 × 1080 pixels and the other 1280 × 720 pixels. In addition to the number of pixels there are other factors that contribute to the perceived quality of the picture and these include the choice between the image being scanned in an interlace or progressive manner and, if it is scanned in interlace, a factor best described as line summation can affect that perceived picture quality. While both the standards can support up to 60 frames per second (fps) it is more common, with professional cameras, to find a 1080 camera limited to 30 fps with several 720 cameras going up to 60 fps.

The 1080 format has the choice of ...

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