72p 59.94 upconvert issue…

[Shane Ross]

720p is a 60 frame format by nature, running at 59.94. 720p at 29.97 doesn’t really exist. Well, it does, but not on tape, but as a digital format, but you have to make custom settings to get it. Why did you go to 720p other than not wanting to go all the way to 1080? What is your intended delivery? If 720p, then the two frame rates at 59.94 or 23.98. Like I point out in this article:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/aja_kona3.php

You see, we shot 720p and were working at 23.98, so I upconverted to 720p, then removed the pulldown. But on a project I am working on now, I upconverted DV to 1080p, because the rest of the show is 1080p. It looks fine, the AJA Kona LHi upscales well. And we are delivering a 1080 master.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Nicholas Natteau]

Hi Shane,

Thanks again very much for your help. You say that your destination was 1080p. 1080p24? If so, is that because the film is for theatrical distribution? I take it if it were going straight to TV or DVD you would have chosen 1080i29.97 then, correct?

I had chosen 720p59.94 because after trying to upscale to 1080i (225% larger frame size than 480) it seemed to me that the picture looked better if it were only blown up 150% to 720. I was afraid i was losing too much resolution at 1080. I may be wrong of course.

[Shane Ross]

[Nicholas Natteau] “You say that your destination was 1080p. 1080p24?”

No…1080i29.97. We will be adding the proper pulldown when we output with the Kona LHi

[Nicholas Natteau] ” If so, is that because the film is for theatrical distribution?”

Nope…it is destined for MTV. Most everything else was shot 1080p 23.98 with the EX3, but the first stuff was shot with a DVX-100b for the pilot. So I had to upconvert. Oh, they had HDV in there too.

[Nicholas Natteau] ” I take it if it were going straight to TV or DVD you would have chosen 1080i29.97 then, correct? “

Or I might remove the frames to get to 23.98 to match the rest of the show that was shot 23.98. Then output to 29.97…which is what I did.

[Nicholas Natteau] “I had chosen 720p59.94 because after trying to upscale to 1080i (225% larger frame size than 480) it seemed to me that the picture looked better if it were only blown up 150% to 720”

THe KONA cards upscale very well. And you upscale to what you NEED. Now, I ask again, why are you working at 720p? What will your final delivery be? Web? Tape? DVD? You capture to the format that you need to master to, or that everything else is in. THAT is the choice. You figure out what you need to work with, or master, and work backwards to figure out how to get that.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Nicholas Natteau]

Hi Shane,

My final delivery will be DVD (both standard and blu-ray) and broadcast TV. But I will be using the same upconverted WWII footage for another doc-film I will begin later this summer for which I hope to have theatrical distribution.

All HD footage for my film was all shot with the HVX200 at 720p/24np and the GH1 at 720/60p.
That was another reason I had chosen 720p59.94 as the upconvert. But DVD and broadcast is the ultimate destination for my first film and hopefully theatrical distribution for my second film.

The point is that the WWII upconverted footage will be used in both films, that’s why I’m unsure what format to upconvert to: 720p or 1080i. (Personally I prefer progressive to interlaced).

Thanks again for your advice and help,

– Nick

[Shane Ross]

[Nicholas Natteau] “My final delivery will be DVD (both standard and blu-ray) and broadcast TV.”

What is the network you will be delivering to require as a master? THAT is what you need to aim for. If they want 1080, then you should be upconverting to 1080 to mix with the other footage…which I guess is 1080. Or if all your other footage is 720, then upconvert to 720, then when you deliver, cross-convert to 1080 (I’ve done that lots, and yes, with stock footage).

[Nicholas Natteau] “But I will be using the same upconverted WWII footage for another doc-film I will begin later this summer for which I hope to have theatrical distribution. “

Well, you will have to recapture that again, as theatrical distribution has a different workflow entirely. You will need to consult with the finishing house about that workflow, and then capture the footage to fix that specific workflow. It won’t be the same as the TV or DVD one.

[Nicholas Natteau] “All HD footage for my film was all shot with the HVX200 at 720p/24np and the GH1 at 720/60p.
That was another reason I had chosen 720p59.94 as the upconvert.”

AH! Then there you go. You captured 720p to match with the other footage. THAT is why you go 720p vs 1080 in this case, to match with what you have. Going 480 to 1080 then to 720…that’d be messy and pointless.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Nicholas Natteau]

Hi Shane,

I have a question relating to your article that you pointed me to.

At one point you say:

We ended up capturing most of the footage ZOOM LETTERBOX, but with a few shots as Pillarboxed, so that we could either cut it into the show that way as a stylistic choice (network OK’d that option), or we could zoom in on the footage after we added it to the timeline, and adjust the framing manually so that we controlled where the cropping of the image would occur.

I tried the “zoom letterbox” option, but as I end up with my 4:3 footage being zoomed in all the way to fit the 16:9 frame, I am not able to control where the image can be cropped. Do you know how much the 4:3 image gets zoomed in on to fill the 16:9 frame when you select “zoom letterbox”? I am trying to determine how much of the top and bottom part of my 4:3 footage I will lose if I select “Zoom letterbox” as opposed to anamorphic.

If I’m not mistaken, “zoom wide” applies half of both methods (half zoom and half stretch to get the 4:3 footage to fill the 16:9 frame. I’m also trying to figure out how much of the 4:3 frame I will lose if I select zoom wide.