In this talk I will review some odd-looking numbers and design aspects that exists in modern days video and media systems and try to explain how and why they have been derived, what was the original intended utility and why we have stuck with them. Among things I will review will be:

Interlace scan — 1880 patent by Maurice Leblanc: reducing bandwidth for line-by-line transmission of 2D images YUV color spaces — 1938 patent by Georges Valensi: compatibility with Black&White TV 4:2:0 choma subsampling: 1949 patent by Alda Bedford, RCA; reducing bandwidth First color TV system: 1951: CBS field-sequential system; did not use YUV! First HDTV System: 1979 Japanese MUSE system. Analog. Extreme form of interlace and subsamling of everything. 3:2 pulldowns — 1950s “Flying Spot” machines (all analog, this was well before CCDs!) 25/30 fps framerates — 1930s: use of 50/60Hz AC power frequency as base reference 29.97 framerate — 1953: bandwidth constraints in the design of NTSC 44.1kHz sampling rate — 1980: desire to fit Beethoven’s 9th Symphony on a single CD NTSC, EBU, and SMPTE-C colors — a case when industry has ignored the standard Standard resolutions: 1080p, 720p, 480i, 576i, etc. — each has history! Anamorthic formats: 10:11, 12:11, 40:33, 4:3, 3:2, 64:33, etc. – each has history! Presented at Demuxed 2021.