Mixing 24P and 30P

[Noah Kadner]

Sadly 30p and 24p do not mix well at all- which is why I’m a huge non-fan of 30p. You have two basic options- fit the 24p onto a 30p timeline or fit the 30p onto a 24p timeline. Some pros and cons-

24p on a 30p timeline
Pros
Visually will look better- 24p just needs to have it’s pulldown added and will fit on a 30p timeline well.
Much easier, less rendering required.

Cons
Lose native 24p edit
Cannot make native 24p DVD or go out to film without complex conversions down the road
20% more render and storage time required for effects due to more frames per second

30p on a 24p timeline
Pros
Preserve native 24p footage and timeline
Can make a 24p DVD and/or output easily to film
Cons
30p is extremely difficult to convert to 24p without artifacting and requires considerable render power to make into 24p.

Bottom line is there is no easy solution here and I point all this out in the hopes that someone else reading this will avoid the situation entirely by sticking with one or the other for their entire production. Sorry. 🙂

-Noah

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[Craig Seeman]

In defense of 30p (sort of).

I actually do most of my shooting in 30p (I think Doug Jensen mentions the same on his Vortex Media EX training DVD). Personally I do not like the temporal resolution of 24p. That’s just me but it’s my aesthetic. I fully agree that 30p is the worst of all “portable” formats though so you really have to know what you’ve locked yourself into.

FWIW 24p is the “universal” since it can easily be converted to 25(speed change) or 29.97(pull down) as well as used as is.

[Mick Haensler]

Thanks Noah. That’s kinda what I thought. I should have insisted we stick with one frame rate. I appreciate your detailed evaluation of the situation. 24p on 30p timeline it is. Thanks again.

Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media