Building a new station… What is the best ENG format?

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Don’t have experience with stations but you don’t need to shoot in 60i. Furthermore, most modern cameras can shoot in progressive and interlaced formats – you can pick and choose based on your content.

As a general rule I prefer to shoot progressive and interlace later than the other way around. Movies have always been broadcast this way.

Many networks have broadcast guidelines for producers on their websites. Hope this helps.

https://www.wolfcrow.com – Workflow information and support for filmmakers, photographers, audiographers and videographers.

[Gary Hazen]

[Kevin Hedin] “We are considering 1080p30 as a standard”

I’m curious why you wouldn’t acquire in the same format that you’re using for broadcast – 1080/59.94i

You should have a look at XDCAM HD, well suited for ENG work.

[Mark Walleman]

I’ve built and worked at a few news stations. Currently, my work is all real time sports and news. In all, over 15 years of experience.

If your station standard is 1080@60i (likely 59.94 in most cases), then keep your shooting format in 1080i. There is no reason to justify using 720 and upconverting. That just adds another step to the workflow.

You DO need to shoot your live shots in 60i. Otherwise you will get jitter in the video, regardless if you’re in 1080i or 720p… 60fps for live shots… Period. However, for recorded content to be edited, yes, you can shoot in 30 or 25. This makes editing much easier.

What camera are you using? Some have the ability to output the video at 60i (59.94), but record in 25 or 30 (29.97).

Mark D. Walleman
Relay House Inc.