Like JMD says, it's basically a composite picture taken from several frames of video.

I don't think it's faked (multiple shots of the same cars), just quickly done. Well, maybe not quickly, but at least was going for dramatic effect not pixel-for-pixel accuracy.

I've always said the word genius is bandied around way too much, and this video is a fine example. CRT screens/tvs follow the same idea - individual lights illuminate in sequence quickly enough to form a static picture, each pixel changes very slightly 100 times per second (refresh rate) to give the illusion of the original picture in motion. The CRT beam scans ("rasters") from top left to bottom right (for example) in exactly the same way that the device in the video spins (it rasters in a circle) and however many times it spins per second is the refresh rate.

It's a cool project and his PCB work is nice, and he's done a good job of translating a picture into a timed set of lights. The videographer uses the term genius because he was not previously aware of the long history of rasters. This would be a useful tool for teaching children about the process - CRTs might not be popular anymore, but CCDs are fundamental to (astro)physics, and the principles behind both cover a huge range of potential teaching topics.

So, Freddie gets almost totally derezzed but our pixel cop only gets a blocky hole in his chest? At least have him go to pieces after he's delivered his final lines.

Your video, Pixel Cops: A True Detective Story, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Cyriak has just uploaded a new high res widescreen version of this

*backup=[...snipped...]

He says:

Here's the epic saga of cows vs aliens, in higher resolution and widescreen.

When I first uploaded it in 2007, youtube had a maximum video quality of 240p, and the compression looked like someone had chewed up the video and spat it out. That has always bothered me with this video, so here it is again with more pixels. I also went to the trouble of extending it to 16:9 and fixed a few bits, which was a lot more work than I anticipated.

Enjoy

Seeing this really puts a new perspective on the ketchup blood and pixelated gore of the original. To the claims that it desensitizes us to violence I would point out that real world violence does that as well, perhaps even more so since its actually real. Should we ban the evening news as well?

You went farther than I did then.
All I can say is when I cut out squares in a piece of paper, I could see a difference until they 'masked off' the image, then it had changed. I know these can work without fudging, which is why I was disappointed.
Did you note the difference between the 'colored' image and the 'masked off' image? It sure seems like there's a difference to me, if I stop it 1/2 way through and cover all but 2 squares, one is slightly lighter than the other on my monitor. That went for both the cubes and the floor tiles. Maybe it's 'eye memory' or something, but it sure seemed to me that the center tile was noticeably lighter until the 'masking off' happened.
I used a piece of paper against my monitor to measure the table,....I must have moved it when marking it, because now when I do it, it seems the tables ARE the same size. Damn touch screen, kept starting the video every time I touched it.
If those lines were really pixel straight, my paper is cut with a curve or my monitor has a problem.
Again, you went farther than I did to prove it, so I'll defer to you and accept I'm seeing things, even when I mask them off myself.

EDIT: Just a thought why I may have seen it differently, do you think it's possible that 'light bleed' or 'color bleed' on my monitor has anything to do with it? I mean, since the pixel next to the 'grey' block might be glowing bright yellow, it could color the grey slightly yellow, while the RGB value would not change?

Sorry, newt, but that's simply inaccurate.

I saw two grey pills too, but you're completely wrong about the others. I screen shotted all the images into paint.net to verify them.

The rubix cube image is 100% real. The RGB values for the blue and yellow tiles are identical (127,128,129).

Same with the the tiles under the table. They are are off by a small amount (rgb 70 68 71 vs rgb 70 68 70), but I'd but that down to the video encoding.

Ditto with the checkboard; zooming in with paint.net the lines are pixel straight (there is some anti-aliasing at the edges, but it doesn't affect the "straightness of the checkerboard").

The tables too, are the same size. I rotated the vertical table.

If you don't believe me, try it yourself.

The pixels! You can tell by the pixels!

Sure, but with the latest Chromebook Pixel being USB-C, Google hinted that the next Nexus would also be USB-C.

USB-C is pretty cool, actually, so it doesn't bother me that much (already been from proprietary->mini USB->micro USB as far as chargers go anyway, plus custom variants of MHL ports). I'm looking forward to this all being standardised and approve of Apple going for a non-Apple proprietary port for once.

Is this seriously a ripoff of the Short video "Pixel"?

This video has been seconded as a duplicate; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof seconded with isdupe by eric3579.

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Pixels-Trailer

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by newtboy. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Pixels, retro, games, arcades, Pac Man, Puck Man, Donkey Kong, trailer, preview, attacks' to 'Pixels, Arcade, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Trailer, Adam Sandler, Peter Dinklage' - edited by Sagemind