Sony Handycam AVCHD, Technology Handbook

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AVCHD, HD Mode AVCHD, SD Mode HDV 1080 (for comparison)
Picture Format 1080/60i 720/60p 480/60i 576/50i 1080/60i
1080/50i 720/50p 1080/50i
1080/24p 720/24p 1080/24p (option)
Number of Pixels 1920 x 1080 1280 x 720 720 x 480 720 x 576 1440 x 1080
1440 x 1080
Aspect Ratio 16:9 4:3 or 16:9 16:9
Video Compression MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 MPEG-2
Luminance Sampling Frequency 74.25 MHz 13.5 MHz 55.6875 MHz
Sampling Format 4:2:0 4:2:0
Bits per sample 8 bit (Y, Cb and Cr) 8 bit
Audio Format Dolby Digital (AC-3) Linear PCM MPEG-1 / Audio Layer II
Audio Bit Rate 64 to 640 kbps 1.5 Mbps (2 channel) 384 kbps (fixed)
Audio Mode 1 to 5.1 channel 1 to 7.1 channel Stereo 2 channel
MPEG-2 transport stream
Video Bitrate after Compression Up to 20 Mbps variable Max 25 Mbps (fixed)
Picture format: The number of scanning lines, followed by the number of interlaced fields or
progressive frames per second, followed by the designation “i” for interlaced scanning or “p”
for progressive scanning.
Number of pixels: Horizontal x vertical.
Aspect ratio: Ratio of picture width to picture height.
Luminance sampling frequency: The number of digital video samples per second for the black-and-
white (luminance or “Y”) channel , measured in megahertz (millions of cycles per second).
Sampling format: Refers to the structure of the three video channels: Y (luminance), Cb (blue color
difference, Y-B), and Cr (red color difference, Y-R).
Bits per sample: The number of bits devoted to each digital video sample.
Bitrate: The recorded data rates for audio and video, measured in bits per second. “kbps” stands for
kilobits per second. “Mbps” stands for megabits per second.
For maximum flexibility, the AVCHD format supports both 1080- and
720-line High Definition as well as Standard Definition video.
AVCHD
™
format specifications.