> I think that Watson has hit upon an interesting idea. By the > way, grain is not caused by resolution, it is what defines resolution > in film. I said "grain is the result of resolution." If you have a lens or device of a lower quality than the receiving medium, e.g. photographic film or television, information is lost. Conversely, if the receiving medium is of a lower quality, information is also lost. In photography, the grains which result are physical. In television, they are analog results of electrical signals. In digital media, they are the result of computer calculations called quantization. This is why grain results from the resolution of the recording and transmitting media. > If there is > a video system down the line that has better resolution than film, will > it look better? The fundamental difference between film and video is that film presents an entire frame of information at a time, while our current video systems present portions of frames. They theory is that both media are sufficiently fast to fool our senses, but we all know this is not so. Due to the immense bandwidth required to transmit as much information as a frame of high-resolution film can store, it is unlikely that future systems will immitate film. They may, however, be more akin to FM radio, which transmits NOT a signal, but the DIFFERENCE in the source from moment to moment. Some kind of LCD technology will likely be used, but the question is, will the frame be refreshed all at once, as in film? Probably not. If only those pixels which CHANGE from moment to moment are transmitted, we have a kind of "visual FM." The visual effect will be quite different from current media. The "scan" or "swarm" as Watson may have put it, would now be distributed across the screen at the points of most change, not in bands of scan lines. Clearly, such a system will place far greater emphasis on the "grains" resulting from the "resolution" of the medium. If you are interested in seeing such screen technology, visit a high-end PC dealer and ask to see the top-of-the-line Toshiba portable PC. It costs about $9,000, and the screen is wonderful. A bit tiny for Ben Hur or Space Odyssey, however.