[Giles Elwes]

Bret is correct – FCP FCPX sorts it out. 50P becomes 50i in the correct timeline etc

In my view all video should be shot at the highest frame rate possible not least to future proof it. Playback admittedly is still limited but that will change – Vimeo and YouTube will soon see the light and include it if we all demand it. It’s just a bandwidth thing stopping them.. supposedly.

But why not for the moment, enjoy the quality playback on your own screens – TVs now play back 50P & 60P and QuickTime handles it on most desktops. Large projectors also play back 50P & 60P – and the extra smoothness of the graphics (judder free) and the pans etc are a joy. Anyway YouTube automatically converts your 50P files to 25P – so no big deal. Blue Ray will be dead soon since memory sticks can now playback 4K.

25p was always a poor compromise – it can’t handle sideways movement, pans, etc. especially with electronic shutters (another bet noir). 25 frames conveniently mathematically works with PAL. 24P was inherited from film but Video is not film. Everyone in manufacturing knew this but until the tech (storage speeds) caught up we were all fobbed off with the idea that judder was a ‘film look’ to keep us happy. Many in the US have happily sacrificed image resolution for smoothness and used 720 60P for years because of the recognised weakness of 1080 30P.

It will become the norm in the UK and 50i (the temporary solution to the judder/motion problem) will eventually disappear. Don’t get me wrong – it served us incredibly well for the past 25 years both in Standard and High Def – but it existed to conquer the dreaded judder – despite the frame blends, motion blur filters we sold over the years.

So ignore the neysayers who tell you 50p is only for slo mo in a 25p timeline. It’s not (in my opinion). That’s a work around as well. Soon we’ll wonder what all the fuss was about and be shooting at 100fps plus and editing in 50P and 60P timelines. If digital storage devices had been fast enough 5 years ago we wouldn’t have been sold 720 50P & 60P – they’d have given us 1080 50P 60P straight away.

Now that the manufacturers have overcome tech acquisition constraints 50P & 60P rocks! . Try it… Clarity, fluid motion without judder, normal speed pans on both your own and giant screens. What’s not to like. For old timers like me it’s the historical equivalent to the elimination of ‘drop out’ with the advent of digital. We all just need to learn how to shoot and edit in it. Video is not film both emotionally and technically.

Here endeth my rant – apologies to all who got to this point. PS Jackson over-lit.