AVCHD on Interlaced TV?

[Fred Helm]

Will AVCHD clips from Sony CX12 have problems on interlaced broadcast TV?

[Mike Burgess]

Hi Fred, welcome to the forum.
I have the sony SR11 and have burned DVDs using the provided software from Sony, using Pinnacle Studio 12, Ulead Corel Pro, and Nero 9. The DVDs that I made have been both SD and AVCHD. In all cases, whether I am playing those DVDs on a regular DVD player, playing them on a BR player, or connecting my SR11 directly to my 768 42" plasma via HDMI cable, the pictures are great.

Don't know if I answered your question, but I sure did enjoy writing it.

Mike

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Fred Helm

Will AVCHD clips from Sony CX12 have problems on interlaced broadcast TV?

Sony AVCHD is interlaced. Do you want to know if you can broadcast AVCHD? Or do you mean connect to a normal interlaced CRT TV? Output from my SR11 is interlaced on all outputs( component, composite and HDMI) and its up to the TV to sort out deinterlacing if required( flat panel TV some do it better than others!!!) or will just play on a CRT for any type SD or HD. In fact Sony AVCHD will likely play better on an interlaced HD display retaining all the smooth motion that a 60i format can provide. The only thing smoother and sharper would be 60P but there is no standard for 1080P60 even though most 1080P panels will display. For 60p one has to use 720P60 which is 1280x720P60 on the Panasonic's in the main.

Ron Evans

[Battle Vaughan]

If I interpret your question, the problem broadcast would have with avchd is the format in the US for broadcast is still NTSC (4:3 format) and avchd is 16:9, so your clips would need to be letterboxed for broadcast or repurposed (cropped) to 4:3 in an nle to fit the screen. In February the digital tv takeover will change all this --- I admit I'm hazy on the details -- but until then what you submit to a network or tv station needs to meet NTSC standards.

You should have a chat with the broadcaster to whom you plan to submit about whether you or they would do conversions, and other good stuff like broadcast black and white limits on your files, etc. The dynamic range of the avchd image usually exceeds the broadcast-legal range, the audio may need to be sub-mixed to a single channel, etc. Talk to your broadcaster....! hope this is not too confusing....

[Fred Helm]

ok, sounds good. My questioned stemmed from a tv project we are involved with. I love the size of the CX12 so much I used it for several shoots that will make the broadcast in USA on major networks. Someone questioned its use and I didnt have an answer other than, "dont worry it will look great..." We'll see in 3 weeks!

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Battle Vaughan

If I interpret your question, the problem broadcast would have with avchd is the format in the US for broadcast is still NTSC (4:3 format) and avchd is 16:9, so your clips would need to be letterboxed for broadcast or repurposed (cropped) to 4:3 in an nle to fit the screen. In February the digital tv takeover will change all this --- I admit I'm hazy on the details -- but until then what you submit to a network or tv station needs to meet NTSC standards.

Broadcast TV is both 4:3 and 16:9 -- and the DTV will NOT in any way change this. Programs that are not HD will continue to be 4:3 and programs that are HD will continue to be 16:9. Moreover, 16:9 programs will continue to use both 16:9 and 4:3.

The networks and certainly in most major markets accept both HD and SD. NTSC has nothing to do with it. It depends on the station's infrastructure. For example, in Las Vegas, the local CBS outlet has shot everything for the local news programs in HD for over a year. Likewise CBS news is nearly all HD. They do NOT want 4:3 if they can get HD. HD has value to them.

But they want you to "protect" the edges which simply keep EVERYTHING important in the center.

The local NBC outlet shoots at their studio in HD, but the field footage is 4:3. They seem to have no way to edit or record HD. They would only want 4:3.

So it's a matter of "what does the company who's going to buy your video -- want."

By the way -- do not expect to deliver on AVCHD. They want SD on Beta SP, DVCPRO or DVCPRO 50. HD is harder. Some only want HDCAM SR or D-5. Others will accept DVCPRO HD.

If you don't have this type of equipment, HDV is far far far more widely used than AVCHD. Many stations own an HDV deck because folks come in with DV and HDV tapes.

[Fred Helm]

Steve, great post and we have been schooled on the network requirements exactly as you say over the last three years of tv. We have started to use the CX12 as an HD onboard camera in race cars due to its small footprint. Some blowhard freaked me out when he claimed the AVCHD clip would fall apart on interlaced tv. I just threw it out there to get a read on this format being used in broadcast. The clips are in post and I havnt had a call yet....so....

[Dave Blackhurst]

Fred -
There's more than a few people who don't know how to de-interlace properly or handle HD in general - they blame their incompetent results on the format, or the camera, or the phase of the moon...

There's a learning curve for any technology, and somepeople never get off the floor...

I'd expect your CX12 footage to be pretty good - same sensor/signal chain as the SR11/12, maybe with slight improvements, and it's hard to argue with the results from either camera - sure the cam doesn't "look" impressive, but the results do!

[Battle Vaughan]

Thanks, Steve, for your well-informed reply. I am pretty much going my our local experience, in which the broadcast outlets who want our videos always --- well, they're probably in the dark ages, they always want ntsc 4:3 Betacam tapes. Not going to get that from us! And what they're going to do after February, I don't know but, like your local NBC affilliate, all the ENG stuff is 4:3 right now. The cable channels are running HD, of course, and if cable is the target, HD probably is what they want --- I narrowly interpret "broadcast" to mean the rapidly-disappearing local TV. My advice to consult the broadcaster, however, I stand by resolutely....:) Battle Vaughan