I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out the proper work flow for producing the best quality Blu-ray disc of a dance recital that will be viewed on progressive devices like LCD, DLP and Plasma HDTV's and monitors and was shot on a Canon H1.

The canon H1 can record HD in 60i, 30f, and 24f but converts the output to 60i except when the HDV/DV terminal is set to HDV in 24f mode, then the signal is output in 24fps progressive.

Since the video is a dance recital with a lot of movement, it would be best to shoot in either 30p or 60i with a 1/60 shutter speed. The default shutter speed for 30p is 1/30 and 1/60 for 60i. Both would require about the same amount of light and would give you less motion blur than shooting 30p at 1/30.

With the Canon H1, whether i shoot in 60i or 30p, the playback signal is converted and output at 1440x1080i 60i.

The dilemma is that LCD, DLP and Plasma HDTV's are all progressive. So whatever you feed it, i or p, it gets converted to p for viewing. The problem is feeding an LCD, DLP or Plasma HDTV a true interlaced signal (A frame = AB fields) won't look as good as feeding it progressive signal (A frame = AA fields). Lines and edges appear stepped or jaggy.

So the issue is whether to shoot 1440x1080 in 30p with a shutter speed of 1/60 or 60i with a shutter speed of 1/60. Either way, it gets output via the HDV terminal (IEEE 1394) into premiere as 1440x1080 60i.

With consideration to the final display device, i.e. LCD, DLP and Plasma HDTV's and monitors, the only option would be to record in 30p with shutter speed of 1/60 if your shooting lots of movement like a dance recital to reduce the motion blur and 1/30 for normal shoots. Recording in 60i for output to a progressive HDTV or monitor would, i my opinion, produce somewhat blotchy jaggy video frames because the frames are averaged from two fields with slightly different images.

Also, since the H1 playback signal is output as 1440x1080 60i, does it matter whether i choose HDV 1080i30 (60i) or 1080p30 for a new project preset in Premiere CS3 prior to capturing the footage? If you shot in 30p, probably not, since the Premiere CS3 capture would still result in A frame = AA fields anyway. But since Encore nor the Blu-Ray standard support 1080p 30 (29.97fps), the choice is made for you - 1080i30 (60i) for the Premiere preset and 1080i 29.97 for Encore preset. You could select the HDTV 1080i 29.97 Encore preset if you want to upscale the 1440x1080 to 1920x1080.

Either way, the end result is that shooting in 30p and capturing, editing and encoding in 1080i 29.97 will still deliver A frame = AA fields and a better progressive image on a progressive LCD, DLP or Plasma HDTV or monitor without the conversion or stepped and jaggy lines that a true interlaced image would show.

So, the bottom line, in my opinion, is... If your shooting with a Canon H1 and will be showing you work on an LCD, DLP or Plasma HDTV or monitor, shoot in 30p at either 1/30 or 1/60 shutter speed then edit in Premiere, encode in Encore and produce your Blu-Ray dvd all in 1080i 30 (29.97).

Obviously, if you shooting a film or want your work to look like film, shoot in 24p by all means.

Let me know if you disagree on any points.

You are correct about the Blu-ray Specifications not supporting 30p. What it will support is 60i (29.97). I just wanted to make sure you understand that when a 30p signal is converted to 60i, it will not look different. This is because field A and B are of the exact same frame in time, and you will not see the interlaced artifacts (stair-stepping) that you would normally see from a 60i source.

Unfortunately the H1 actually has an interlaced image sensor. So even for its 24F and 30F modes, it's actually receiving the image in an interlaced format, then doing an internal de-interlace before laying it down to tape. This leads to a slight loss in quality / resolution. Newer cameras are starting to offer "True Progressive" such as the Sony Z7U, which sports a progressive CMOS image sensor, and can record directly to Compact Flash Card (using the Add-on pack).

I just wanted to make sure you understand that when a 30p signal is converted to 60i, it will not look different.

Yup, that's part of what i was trying to get across.

Now that i've figured out the H1/Premiere/Encore/Blu-ray work flow, the only issue at this point is keeping the H1 focus sharp throughout 5 - 2hr motion packed performances. Although i used a 24" HD monitor, a number of the performances have a soft focus. But, that's another thread I'll start.