James Cameron bought 50 RED EPIC-Ms

[mikkowilson]

Time is *critical* when discussing film & TV standards. "1080p" by itself means very little.

1080i50 1080i60 1080p25 1080p30 and 1080p24 are all valid HD standards.

1080 = 1080 lines (1920x1080 pixels resolution).
i = interlaced fields ("half frames"), p = progressive (full) frames.
The last number us how many of the letter.

1080i60 = 60 half frames of 1920x1080 per second. Normal US HDTV standard. good resolution and smooth movement.
1080p30 = 30 full frames of 1920x1080 per second. Same total amount of information as 1080i60, with sharper stills, but movement may be slightly jerky on some shots. Compatible with 1080i60.
1080i50 and 1080p25 are similar, respectively, but used in europe and other PAL regions.
1080p24 = 24 full frames of 1920x1080 per second. Directly compatible with the 24 frames-per-second speed of film. The format used by practically all digital movies, including on BluRay. Including Avatar.

I don't know what the production frame size of Avatar was. (film) IMAX is basically LOADSxLOADSp24.
We don't know the frames size they will shoot A2 at, but it'll be ?x?p48 - there isn't really a common standard for describing the 3D system used in that same terminology.
At home, we'll likely see Avatar 2 as 1080p48.

- Mikko