scanning to output, a 2K scan can be more than adequate. Because it has one quarter the data of 4K, 2K uses less storage, hardware, and time, resulting in lower costs. In Hollywood’s never ending battle between cost and quality, 2K represents a nice compromise.
Where’s the K in HD?
HD has a horizontal resolution of 1920 pixels, or 1.9K. For a non-anamorphic or “flat” film this 6% difference is not significant. Typically HD scans are extracted from the area of the film that matches the round glass in the camera, while 2K scans tend to be “perf to perf” or capture the entire film frame. This can result in an HD image that is sharper than its 2K counterpart. Where 2K clearly has an advantage over HD is with anamorphic, or “scope”, films. Scope uses the full vertical area of the frame, so 2K’s vertical resolution of 1556 has a clear advantage over