Believe it or not, there are still people who believe Standard Definition (SD) videos are not much different than High Definition (HD) videos.

Here’s what Aaron had to say about it:

No, SD videos do not nicely convert to HD.  When you only have 480 vertical lines of pixels to work with, you can’t stretch them to be 1080 lines without hurting the quality and distorting the picture.  Plus, most standard definition video is shot with a 4:3 ratio and most high definition videos are shot in 16:9 (widescreen).  Can’t convert that either without distorting it even more.

Here’s a little more background info on the two major HD formats:

HDTV 720 (1280 x 720)

720 was the original High Definition standard screen size, first promoted for broadcast in Japan in 1996.  This is still a valid U.S. broadcast format, and is still used by many Fox and ABC network affiliates across the US.  The increase in quality, compared to standard definition, is 275%.  At this size and quality level, most people will notice a big difference in quality when compared to standard definition.

HDTV 1080 (1920 x 1080)

This was the final agreement on size for HDTV and is the current standard for broadcast television. HDTV 1080 is exactly 6 times the size of SD (in pixels) and offers a highly noticable difference in overall quality.  Also, the 16:9 aspect ratios for both HD formats offer the same screen dimensions that motion pictures have been filmed with for decades and almost all new televisions are built with.  99% of all commercial videos we produce are shot in 1080 for maximum quality.

Here’s how the three formats stack up against each other:

Hopefully we’ve done a good job of convincing the doubters out there that there is more than just a small difference between Standard Definition and High Definition video.  Please feel free to share this blog post and let us know if you have any questions in the comment section, our twitter account @AttentionEra, or our Facebook page.

Thanks for your attention!

- Aaron @Biebert and the rest of the Attention Era Media crew

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Last updated by Aaron Biebert.

High Definition Standard Definition Video