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PAL Speedup
Is this REALLY acceptable when delivering PAL masters? An instant cinema tools conform to 25FPS looks SO much better than the 60hr Compressor render that is giving me motion artifacts on pans and camera movement. Software pitch correction has yielded poor results, but it appears that as long as I am fine with the quality, sending sped up PAL masters to a distributor is acceptable. I would LOVE some real world insight on this?
Thanks!
Abel Cine Tech – Rental Coordinator
Phantom HD Gold • Arri Alexa • Red MX •
212.462.0163 • mnichols [at] abelcine [dot] com -
4 Replies
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The standard workflow to create a 25fps PAL version of a 24fps original is to speed it up 4% so that you have a 1:1 frame correlation. (Which of course is what cinema tools does). Audio may or may not be pitch corrected.
So if that’s what you’re asking then the answer is that you are absolutely fine, it’s the preferred way of doing it.Stephan
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There are a few good reasons not to and one good reason to do it. The good reason is you get the best picture quality,
Bad reasons are audio needs to be repitched which can be done very well with Pitch N time or MPEX3. I have just downloaded iZotope which has an excellent pitch correction module but I don’t know if it can handle multi channel files with correct phase yet.
My main reason to say no to this technique however, is the pace of the program changes. This can be of little concern on some shows, but I have had programs that felt totally wrong after a 4% speedup. It changes the music tempo which can be unsettling and the edit pace. Finally if you sold a program to a broadcaster to run 52 minutes, then it will be short if you speed up. This can be an issue for international distributors having a program that runs different durations depending on territory.
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I absolutely agree that it does change the feel of the rythm and pacing.
However, 4% speedup is the way big feature films are transferred to PAL. Just compare the difference in running time on for example Avatar (on DVD) on amazon.com vs. amazon.co.uk. I’m not saying it’s the best way to do it, from a creative standpoint it may not be, but it is the way it’s normally done. So unless there is a problem such as with the shortened duration then it is definitely an accepted way of creating a converted master for a distributor.
Oh the joy of finally having true 24fps Blue-Ray and TV-sets. 😉
Stephan
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Thanks guys! Believe it or not, I think the speed up actually HELPS the pacing of my film. Huh, don’t let the editor know I said that…Wait, I am the editor!!
Abel Cine Tech – Rental Coordinator
Phantom HD Gold • Arri Alexa • Red MX •
212.462.0163 • mnichols [at] abelcine [dot] com
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