General considerations about digital formats

The appropriateness of the technological means may therefore depend on the content and the appearance of a work. The results of the codec tests have been published online and are summarised. Examples demonstrate the effect of compression characteristics and filters.

It is of major importance that some works of video art cannot be compressed by using common vector-based methods: aesthetic features such as scratches, flicker or white noise are identified as errors by these compression modes and are automatically corrected and visually aligned. A fatal result in the context of video restoration, as the artistic statement is falsified by the elimination of these visual "errors".

Codec-Test

To arrive at a better understanding for the consequences of different compression procedures, the HfG has developped a systematic test setting for evaluation of different compression codices. On the base of trial recordings transformation parameters for shutter and grid (Moiré) effekt, digital artifacts, Kompressionsspurenin Farbverläufen, Umgang mit Störfrequenzen. Descriptive examples could be obtained und stehen zum Download auf der Website bereit. Depending on the internal esthetical structure of a video tape different digitisation modes and codices may be recommended. → read more