我再问GPT：Is this the reason we often see distortions in the

snapshot of video in news reports？

ChatGPT回答：

 

Exactly — what you’re describing in news reports (those “glitchy” stills pulled from video) usually comes from these frame-level anomalies.

 

When a news outlet freezes a frame from a live feed, a compressed stream, or a surveillance camera, you often see distortions like:

 

 

 

 

Why Snapshots Look Distorted

 

 

1. Compression Artifacts
   • News footage is almost always compressed (H.264, HEVC, etc.) before broadcast.
   • If the snapshot is taken from a P-frame or B-frame (which only store changes from earlier frames), it may lack full image data, so you get blockiness, smearing, or partial detail.
2.  
3. Transmission Errors
   • Live feeds (satellite, cellular, internet) can drop packets.
   • Instead of losing the whole frame, the decoder “guesses” or repeats partial data, which looks like scrambled squares or horizontal tearing when frozen.
4.  
5. Interlacing or Frame Mixing
   • Many cameras (especially older broadcast ones) capture in interlaced mode.
   • A single snapshot may contain fields from two different points in time, so moving objects look jagged or duplicated.
6.  
7. Rolling Shutter or Motion
   • If the subject is moving quickly and the snapshot isn’t from a full progressive I-frame, motion can look warped or “melted.”
8.  

 

 

 

 

 

Why It’s More Noticeable in News Stills

 

 

• News editors often grab a frame quickly for illustration, without cleaning it up.
• Live or low-bandwidth feeds (e.g., war zone reporting, CCTV) have more errors than polished studio video.
• Stills exaggerate the artifact: in motion, the eye may not notice brief glitches, but when frozen, they become obvious.

 

 

 

 

So yes — the distortions in snapshots from video are usually not because of deliberate editing, but because of frame-level anomalies from compression, transmission, or capture that get exposed when you freeze the video.