• Sony Cameras

  Format for broadcast

  Posted by Cade Muhlig on September 29, 2010 at 1:28 am

  I own a ex3 and I’m stuck between formats. Need to shoot for a very broad field of distribution, but most importantly broadcast tv sd and hd. Filming is documentary style. Here’s what I’m thinking…

  1080/60i
  -interlaced is to be avoided if possible
  -not good for web
  -not good for downconversion to SD

  720/60p
  -good for web
  -good for ntsc & pal conversion
  -good for downconversion
  -not good to chop down to 60i or 30p because it loses natural motion blur, useless in native format
  -looks “live”, not really intense

  720/30p
  -all the pros of 720/60p
  -I’ve never used it before
  -I was convinced it looked cheapy by one person

  720/24p
  -too much video stutter for my style shooting

  So I guess I would like to know who else is using 720/30p for NTSC broadcast work? It seems like a good option, but I don’t really have the experience to know. What are the shows (like Man vs Wild) on discovery SHOT in?

  PAL is only semi-important for me

  Thank You

  Craig Seeman replied 15 years, 6 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Michael Palmer

  September 29, 2010 at 1:46 pm

  You say “documentary style”,
  I think you should shoot what makes your project the best. IMO 60i would be a mistake for a doc.

  I believe most documentary DP’s would choose 24 or 25p for a film look.

  Both of these formats will convert to any delivery requirement.

  Good Luck
  Michael Palmer
• 

  Craig Seeman

  September 29, 2010 at 3:39 pm

  24p can have pull down added for NTSC or speed change for PAL.
  If you follow proper protocol for camera movement you’ll minimize the motion artifacts. The frame rate looks just fine in feature films and most episodic TV so you really just need to learn the ropes.

  For run and gun doc shooting where you may not be able to follow the guides that’s another consideration. 30p is fine if you’re going to 60i but it’s a problem if you’re heading into PAL. The other option is 60i which takes care of the motion issues and can convert to PAL as well.

  It’s good you’re thinking about this in advance but there are some tough compromises to think about as there is no “perfect” or “best” solution.
• 

  Cade Muhlig

  October 10, 2010 at 3:09 am

  So I think I’m getting used to 24p, but my question is would 1080p24 be the easy choice compared to 720p24.
  Are there any advantages of 720p24?
• 

  Craig Seeman

  October 10, 2010 at 5:04 am

  Some people feel downscale to standard def looks better coming from 720 but others feel 1080 with proper workflow is better.

  You can overcrank with 720p24 (720p24/60) but you can’t get that kind of slow mo in 1080p24 (maybe 1080p24/30 which isn’t much of a slow mo).

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