HM700 better in 720 or 1080? at DVinfo.net

Lenny Warren · March 11th, 2011, 04:37 AM

Apologies if this has been covered before, but as the 700's block is upscaled to 1080, is it better to use 720 as that is the native resolution?

When you add in the fact that you can over/under crank at 720, and if I am never going to produce a1080 specific end product, would I be as well staying on 720?

Am I getting the best quality out of the block at 720 if my end product is DVD or for the web?

Thoughts?

Lenny

Antony Michael Wilson · March 11th, 2011, 07:46 AM

Personally, I'd always shoot at any camera's native resolution where possible. There are many reasons for this. Scaling to 1080 can always be done well in post, preferably using dedicated, sophisticated hardware that will have far more processing power than in-camera methods. We did post on a very sucessful feature doc shot on various ProHD cameras and screened digitially in 1080 (HDCAM) and also as a film-out for theatrical release. Broadcast deliverables were all SD. It was all shot 720p and looked great, even in the film-out. For the 1080 and SD deliverables, AJA hardware was used for real-time mastering to tape (HDCAM and DigiBeta respectively) and the results were excellent. Remember also that with the new tapeless versions with 35mbps recording, that data will result in less artefacting when writing to 1280x720 than 1920x1080. In fact, for 720p, 35mbps MP2 is actually quite respectable. The only good argument I can see for shooting 1080 on the JVC cameras is when you need to integrate with an existing 1080 tapeless workflow and/or there is no abiility to perform high quality scaling in post.

For me, the limiting factor on the JVC cameras is not resolution; it is optics and noise.

Lenny Warren · March 11th, 2011, 04:45 PM

Thanks for that, I think I'll stick to 720 then... I really don't have a need for 1080 at the moment...

March 11th, 2011, 04:37 AM	#1
Lenny Warren Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Posts: 55	HM700 better in 720 or 1080? Apologies if this has been covered before, but as the 700's block is upscaled to 1080, is it better to use 720 as that is the native resolution? When you add in the fact that you can over/under crank at 720, and if I am never going to produce a1080 specific end product, would I be as well staying on 720? Am I getting the best quality out of the block at 720 if my end product is DVD or for the web? Thoughts? Lenny

March 11th, 2011, 07:46 AM	#2
Antony Michael Wilson Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 343	Re: HM700 better in 720 or 1080? Personally, I'd always shoot at any camera's native resolution where possible. There are many reasons for this. Scaling to 1080 can always be done well in post, preferably using dedicated, sophisticated hardware that will have far more processing power than in-camera methods. We did post on a very sucessful feature doc shot on various ProHD cameras and screened digitially in 1080 (HDCAM) and also as a film-out for theatrical release. Broadcast deliverables were all SD. It was all shot 720p and looked great, even in the film-out. For the 1080 and SD deliverables, AJA hardware was used for real-time mastering to tape (HDCAM and DigiBeta respectively) and the results were excellent. Remember also that with the new tapeless versions with 35mbps recording, that data will result in less artefacting when writing to 1280x720 than 1920x1080. In fact, for 720p, 35mbps MP2 is actually quite respectable. The only good argument I can see for shooting 1080 on the JVC cameras is when you need to integrate with an existing 1080 tapeless workflow and/or there is no abiility to perform high quality scaling in post. For me, the limiting factor on the JVC cameras is not resolution; it is optics and noise.

March 11th, 2011, 04:45 PM	#3
Lenny Warren Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Posts: 55	Re: HM700 better in 720 or 1080? Thanks for that, I think I'll stick to 720 then... I really don't have a need for 1080 at the moment...