Frame Rate and File format to render to

[Walter Soyka]

[Chad Kettering] “I would like the final project to be 1920×1080 24P for a BluRay disc release. Should I setup AE for true 24fps or 23.976fps?”

Either. Blu-Ray technically supports both 23.976 and 24 fps. Personally, I’d choose 23.976 fps unless I had a very good reason not to.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Chad Kettering]

Thanks for your responses thus far.

What advantage is there to using the 23.976 frame rate over a pure 24 fps?

As far as the Quicktime rendering in After Effects, I am rendering to Quicktime Movie – Animation, 1920×1080 24fps, highest quality.

Seems to look fine. Just wondering if this is a preferred format to work with when importing it into Premiere.

Thanks!

[Walter Soyka]

[Chad Kettering] “What advantage is there to using the 23.976 frame rate over a pure 24 fps?”

Most video systems that say “24p” really mean 23.976p; the benefits I see are these:

• Easy pull-down to 29.97 fps, for monitoring, tape, broadcast, or cross-conversion to other HD formats.
• Easy down-convert to SD DVD, which requires 23.976 fps and does not support 24 fps.

Sorry, I’m not familiar with Premiere, so I can’t help on your other questions.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Chad Kettering]

Thanks Dave,

I will adjust that in my proect.

[Walter Soyka]

[Dave LaRonde] “Blu-Rays don’t play at 24fps. They play at 23.976 fps.”

This is changing, though. Blu-Ray supports both 23.976 fps and 24.0 fps playback. There is no analog standard that will support it, but you can pass a 24.0 fps stream over HDMI. With a new 120 Hz monitor, you should be able to play back 24.0 fps media without pulldown.

This is still a corner case, though, and if the monitor is not capable of true 120 Hz, you’re at the mercy of the monitor’s video processor for how your 24.0 fps would be displayed at 59.94 / 60 Hz.

Pedantry aside, none of this changes the bottom line — 23.976 fps is still by far the more flexible choice for video distribution.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events