Progressive
Let's take the progressive image first. Progressive, also known as the letter "p" (as in
24p or 30p), is laid down line by line onto the tape in sequential order (i.e., lines 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, etc.) until it fills a frame. Then it returns to the top and repeats, thus drawing one
complete uninterrupted image. Why does this matter? It matters because each frame is
a complete picture, and that allows very clear freezes. It also means that it takes longer
to lay the image down. This means more movement can happen while it is scanning,
potentially causing a softer image. Some non-techie types might be looking at each
other at this point and asking, "What do you mean? Video is recorded some other way -
we don't shoot one image at a time?" The answer is NO. We don't. We shoot two halfimages
called fields. "We" - the U.S., that is - a long time ago decided to record images
in a faster way and called it interlaced.