Which framerate to choose on Varicam for both PAL and NTSC SD output? at DVinfo.net

James Joseph · May 21st, 2008, 04:45 PM

I've read conflicting info on this so I'm hoping someone can give me a definitive answer.
What I'd like to know is - which is the best framerate to shoot footage which needs to be delivered in both PAL and NTSC SD formats? The camera used will be a Varicam shooting DVCPRO HD and the footage itself won't have a lot of fast motion. The cameraman has a preference to shoot it at 24P but I'm wondering if this is the best choice. We will be editing on the latest version of FCP.
Any advice would be gratefully received.

Brad Neal · May 21st, 2008, 05:47 PM

A lot depends on what you are shooting. Is this a TVC, Doc, indy film, etc?

James Joseph · May 21st, 2008, 05:56 PM

A few minutes of aerial footage / location shots for a potential news broadcast. I'm hoping that if we shoot 720 24P, it will be possible to use FCP 6 to convert to 50i and 60i without too much pain (or stuttery motion)..
Am I being optimistic here?

Robert Lane · May 25th, 2008, 08:51 AM

Welcome to the forum, James.

Your best bet would be to shoot at 30p; this would give you a happy medium to start with for making your conversions later.

Compressor 3 can make very high-quality conversions of all kinds; frame rate, speed, size NTSC-to-PAL etc. But, those high-quality settings will take a great deal of time to crunch the data.

May 21st, 2008, 04:45 PM	#1
James Joseph Tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London, UK Posts: 3	Which framerate to choose on Varicam for both PAL and NTSC SD output? I've read conflicting info on this so I'm hoping someone can give me a definitive answer. What I'd like to know is - which is the best framerate to shoot footage which needs to be delivered in both PAL and NTSC SD formats? The camera used will be a Varicam shooting DVCPRO HD and the footage itself won't have a lot of fast motion. The cameraman has a preference to shoot it at 24P but I'm wondering if this is the best choice. We will be editing on the latest version of FCP. Any advice would be gratefully received.

May 21st, 2008, 05:47 PM	#2
Brad Neal Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Central Illinois Posts: 35	A lot depends on what you are shooting. Is this a TVC, Doc, indy film, etc?

May 21st, 2008, 05:56 PM	#3
James Joseph Tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London, UK Posts: 3	A few minutes of aerial footage / location shots for a potential news broadcast. I'm hoping that if we shoot 720 24P, it will be possible to use FCP 6 to convert to 50i and 60i without too much pain (or stuttery motion).. Am I being optimistic here?

May 25th, 2008, 08:51 AM	#4
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,823 Images: 15	Welcome to the forum, James. Your best bet would be to shoot at 30p; this would give you a happy medium to start with for making your conversions later. Compressor 3 can make very high-quality conversions of all kinds; frame rate, speed, size NTSC-to-PAL etc. But, those high-quality settings will take a great deal of time to crunch the data.