Are the Sensor's Pixels Really Rectangular?

[Peter Moretti]

I realize that HDV is actually 1440 not 1920 pixels wide. So it's said that to cover the space that 1080 X 1920 square pixels would cover, HDV uses rectangular pixels.

But out of curiosity, do HDV sensors acutally use physically rectangularly shaped pixels? Or do they use slightly anamorphic lenses that squish 1920 into [edit] 1440?

It's just something I've been wondering about. Thanks.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Peter Moretti

I realize that HDV is actually 1440 not 1920 pixels wide.

Just like HDCAM, the single most popular HD tape format in the world and the most widely accepted format for HD broadcast masters... 1440.

do HDV sensors acutally use physically rectangularly shaped pixels? Or do they use slightly anamorphic lenses that squish 1920 into 1080?

You mean "squish 1920 into 1440," but the answer is no. There are a variety of image sensors used for various HDV camcorders... there is no single standard or single type of implementation. For example on Canon 3CCD HDV camcorders such as the XL and XH series, those CCDs are 16:9 rectangular in shape, with 1440 pixels on the horizontal axis and 1080 pixels on the vertical axis, and they are rectangular pixels. But that's not all there is to the story, because those cameras also use H-axis Pixel Shift, which provides a significant boost in resolution. It's never "just" about the number of pixels on the chip.

[Peter Moretti]

Chris, right.

I honestly was not trying to start another pixel shifting or 1440 vs 1920 thread.

I'm really just curious if the pixels are physically rectangular or if the lens makes them effectively so, similar to how Hawk's anamorphic films lenses work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic

But it sounds like none of them use anamorphic lenses, it's done by the sensor.

P.S. Thanks for catching the typo ;).