How important is 60p for DVD or Web?

[Tim Polster]

Hello,

Just wanted some opinions on 60p shooting.

60i and 60p will give the same motion smoothness when played in realtime.

DVDs (to my understanding) can only be 60i or 30p.

How does 60p help when delivering on DVD?

If one wants to do slo-motion, do the added frames still help once the project goes to DVD - 60i or 30p?

Thanks

[Ben Winter]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

How does 60p help when delivering on DVD?

It doesn't. You'll have to drop half the frames anyway.

[Glenn Chan]

How does 60p help when delivering on DVD?

Yes in the sense that shooting progressive helps. (You'd get similar results with 30p; 60i doesn't compress that well.)

If one wants to do slo-motion, do the added frames still help once the project goes to DVD - 60i or 30p?

Yes.

[Malameel Shawky]

Originally Posted by Ben Winter

It doesn't. You'll have to drop half the frames anyway.

Why drop the frames, each frame would go to a seperate field. 60P make real nice 30i. When we do graphics, we either do 60P or 24P depending on the look desired. When the client wants the ultimate quality, we render 60P. It also allows us to pan in scan and zoom without any issues.

Now in the HD world, true 60P is not that common, but I wish it was.
M

[Tim Polster]

Thanks for your replies.

I am researching a camera purchase and I am trying to see how important 60p shooting is.

Panasonic and JVC offer this while the XDCAM HD really stops at 30p (as overcranking is at a lower resolution).

So I still don't see much of a benefit using DVD or Web delivery.

I guess Blu-ray for HD-DVD will be able to play 60p?

I want to shoot progressive, but would like the option to have very smooth motion as well.

[Ervin Farkas]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

I want to shoot progressive, but would like the option to have very smooth motion as well.

Generally speaking the two exclude each other. People shooting progressive are doing it for the "film look" which is really not smooth at 24 fps (unless you apply motion blur, but that makes your image look soft). For really smooth motion you need to go interlaced and use a shutter speed higher than 60.

What kind of filming are you planning on doing? What exactly will you be filming? There might be other aspects more important than what you're researching here...

[Tim Polster]

I'm just trying to get a grasp of the role of 60p in a DVD or web based workflow.

The camera manufacturers are advertising 60p a lot, so I am trying to see what it does for my camera choice.

[Benjamin Hill]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

Generally speaking the two exclude each other. People shooting progressive are doing it for the "film look" which is really not smooth at 24 fps (unless you apply motion blur, but that makes your image look soft). For really smooth motion you need to go interlaced and use a shutter speed higher than 60.

With 60P, in theory, the two don't exclude each other. You have smooth motion AND progressive frame capture, and progressive has many more benefits than simply "film look". Major networks are using 60P to broadcast pristine-looking video.

[Ervin Farkas]

That is correct - in the professional HDTV business. The original question is about web and DVD delivery and I assumed that's standard def DVD.

[Benjamin Hill]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

That is correct - in the professional HDTV business. The original question is about web and DVD delivery and I assumed that's standard def DVD.

True enough.

There just doesn't seem to be a workflow in place for shooting 60P and delivering on SD DVD, with satisfactory results. A source of personal frustration as an HVX user and fan of 60P.

[Ervin Farkas]

Ben, is there a sample 60P HD footage some place I can download to play with? Could you send me some? I have a mailbox that can take up to 10 MB (if yours can send that much).

[Benjamin Hill]

This afternoon I'll dig something out and post a clip and send you a link.