Quicktime Movies for Standard Digital Displays

Over the past 10 years, we have routinely generated animation sequences (movies) from our 3D hydrodynamic simulations in order to illustrate the results of each simulation for both local analysis and for more public broadcast. In the past, we usually have produced Quicktime-format movies (using Quicktime's default "Sorenson Video 3" codec) in which the pixel resolution of each movie frame is relatively low – typically 640 × 480 pixels. [See, for example, this movie ensemble, or this collection from a recent simulation.] The accompanying page outlines the steps that we generally have followed in order to create each of these movies.

Our objective, now, is to develop tools that can be used to routinely generate animation sequences at "high definition" (HD) resolution (frames with a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1920 × 1080 pixels) in a format/codec that can be immediately broadcast to HDTV monitors. To begin with, we will be generating and/or editing our HD animation sequences on a Power Mac G5, and our specific aim is to develop a means by which these HD movies can be displayed on a Dell W3000 LCD monitor, which includes a YPbPr component input to receive and display HDTV broadcasts.

Meeting the "High-Definition" Challenge^†

We expect that the following steps will need to be taken in order to generate and then immediately view a high-definition movie of our hydrodynamic simulations.

Summary Expectation:    If we run a cable from the 400 Mbps (6-pin) FireWire port on our Power Mac G5 to the 1394a port on the HD-Connect LE, and run three cables from the YPbPr ports on the HD-Connect LE to our Dell W3000 LCD monitor, we should be able to play any of our "HD MPEG-2" (m2v)-formatted movies with Quicktime 7 Pro on the G5 and simultaneously view the movie on our Dell W3000 LCD "HDTV" monitor.

Question: I am assuming that the G5 will automatically recognize that its 6-pin FireWire port is attached to a peripheral device (the HD-Connect LE) and that it will automatically stream the Quicktime movie out to that device, but is this a correct assumption?

Of course, if all of this works as planned, we will have accomplished two, much broader goals: (1) With our "G5 plus HD-Connect LE" setup, we should be able to play our m2v-formatted movies on any HDTV display that accepts a component (YPbPr) video input; and (2) our m2v-formatted movies should be "broadcast ready," in the sense that we should be able to send these movie files to anyone else who has the ability to display or broadcast HD-quality movies.

^†Footnote:    I continue to be amazed by the large divide that separates the digital computer world from the television broadcast industry. This divide was understandable back in the days when a computer monitor's "digital RGB" signal had to be converted into an "NTSC (or PAL) composite analog" signal for analog video recording or over-the-air analog television broadcasts. But one would think that because the broadcast community is converting from predominantly analog to predominantly digital communications and "HD" broadcasts, in particular, are largely derived from digital media, the two worlds would virtually merge. Alas, the formats required for HDTV broadcasts have been built upon an entrenched history of analog and interlaced television signals. So the divide is destined to remain for quite some time into the future. One of the best on-line accounts that I have found of the history of television broadcast formats has been provided at a URL entitled video-basics.