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Pixels -Reprise- by solidxsnake13224 via Flickr

When is a pixel not a pixel?

Like your TV, computer and movie screens, pixels have aspect ratios too. Not to be confused with picture aspect ratio, pixel aspect ratio deal with the shape of pixels. Early analog television was made of pixels that were square, but when the digital video standard was created, DV pixels are non-square. When the high definition standard was created, the standard was set back to square pixels. Confused yet?

All non-linear editing software can convert square pixels to non-square pixels and the other way as well. While video professionals (read: Chris) don’t have to think twice about this setting, it’s awfully confusing to those who aren’t as well versed with video editing (read: Rob).

So what is the difference? That’s what we’ll be discussing on this week’s show.

Resources:
Pixel Aspect Ratio Calculator – http://www.digitalrebellion.com/pixel_calc.htm
A Quick Guide to Digital Video Resolution and Aspect Ratio Conversions – http://lipas.uwasa.fi/~f76998/video/conversion
Artbeats’ Pixel Aspect Ratio, Part 1 – http://www.artbeats.com/articles/86