Another thread I started got me thinking of something else I've always wondered...

What source do the HD movie channels (HBO HD, Sho HD, HDNet, etc) broadcast their 1080/720 movies from? Is it an uncompressed analog source, like film?
I guess I am looking on a brief explanatin on how their process works.

thanks!

I'm not sure of the actual storage format, but at least for HBO all their SD and HD programming is fed from Sun Microsystems file servers.

Most TV stations will accept HDTV movie transfers on digital video tape - like HD Cam SR or HD-D5 (or possibly HD Cam - though less likely these days AIUI). They will then either replay these from VTRs (less usual these days), or transfer the movie onto a playout server (based on a large bunch of hard drives basically), which may operate in a more compressed domain than the VTR. These servers are on the interface between broadcast and IT hardware - and both broadcast and IT manufacturers now provide them.

The digital video tape distribution tapes will be produced from either a film to video telecine process from a 35mm copy of the film, or possibly a digital HDTV conversion of a digital intermediate master of the movie, if it has been post produced digitally.