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Foreign Format Conversions- What Camera Settings are BEST!
Hello Everyone,
I’m hoping someone here can help me out here…… (I also posted in the Varicam section because it relates to that camera too, where you can choose multiple frame rates and record modes but I’m actually hoping to use the Pansonic P2 cameras for the job that sparked this question)
The question:
When you know from the start that a project will need to be delivered in multiple foreign formats what are the best options to choose in the camera (particularly frame rate)?The usual not-helpful answer:
Whatever is convenient, cheaper, available blah blah.
The deal is I am interested in quality, not what is easiest or cheapest but what will look the best going through multiple conversions. Pretend cost and convenience don’t matter. I’m totally curious from folks with experience doing foreign format conversions what are the biggest issues and how can I avoid them…or make it as good as it can get!What I’d like to know:
In an ideal world if I had every camera available to me what would be the smartest way to go to have the most flexible footage, where the image integrity won’t suffer too badly, even when you know it will have to go through frame rate conversion, frame size conversion, and differences in cycles.The not-so-helpful educated guesses I’m making:
Go progressive if possible to eliminate having to deal with fields all together.
Shoot 60fps when possible to have a frame per second, I’m totally guessing it would be easier to eliminate frames then add them, and would hold up better in high motion situations then having fewer frames to represent the same action.Other dumb assumptions:
Probably it’s easier to go from PAL to NTSC (this does contradict my previous statement) if you have to deal with SD, interlaced footage. The thought here is that PAL has more scan lines (more resolution) to work with.So, if anyone has some data based on experience there’s nothing I’d like more than to hear about it! What makes converting formats look great? What makes them a hassle? I’d love to know ‘why’ but even if you have no idea why…the evidence of experience would be invaluable to me.
THANKS!
khammond AT kenwood group. com
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1 Reply
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There is no single best method. It all depends if you want the look of video or of film transferred to video and if you shoot HD or SD. Well, for now I’ll presume it’s HD, since you are posting here.
If you want the video look, shoot 60 fps and have your conversion to 50 fps done with the best possible tools using vector analysis. This conversion doesn’t mean just dropping frames, since there is no simple division between 60 and 50. Dropping frames would generate jumpy movements. A good conversion will generate new inbetween frames based on motion estimation from existing ones.
If you want the film look, it’s easier. Shoot 25 fps (taking care of enough motion blur and very controlled movements) and use it right away in PAL areas. For NTSC areas, slow it down to 24 fps and add pulldown, just like Hollywood is doing all the time. No artificial frames need to be added (apart from the split-field ones in pulldown). Since most American cameras don’t offer 25 fps, you can also take the other route, shooting 24 fps and speeding them up for PAL regions. No frames added, the film is just running a tad shorter.
Regards,
Uli
Author of “DVDs gestalten und produzieren”, a book on professional DVD-authoring in German.
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