14 bit video

[fibreKid]

Slightly off topic but a review of the new Canon 40D describes the camera as having greater dynamic range than most and it's increase of 1 EV over the previous modle (30D) mostly in the darker regions was due to what the revewer said was the new 14 bit processor. www.dpreview.com

I can't help but hope that we may start seeing higher bit counts not only in the consumer TVs that are coming in the next few years but also the technology that does the film to digital transfers and the digital movie cameras of the future. I'm not sure what number of bits there are for HD-DVD and Blue Ray.

Sometimes I wish I was 20 years younger, the toys... oh the toys.

[Sonnie]

How does this effect the picture... better color depth?

[fibreKid]

I'm not sure it would mean more color depth, that's going to be fixed but it would mean more usable color depth which would translate to more detail. If you think of a stream of bits (think dominos) all lined up and divided into 14 bit sets with a window that just fits 14 bits and rocks back and forth (left & right). This rocking back and forth (video processing) effectively clips or removes the bits on the ends and if done right only the bits one end. What you get left over is your picture signal. As you grow your window size 8, 10, 12, 14 etc you have more left over bits. More usable variations.