KellyH
Registered user
Global user
Registered: 11-2006
Posts: 19
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
NTSC vs PAL
Hi there,
It's been a while but I'm a little confused.
Long story but I accidentally shot some stuff on a Sony Z1 HDV in NTSC. I had it converted to PAL so I could use it with a story I'm working on which is all PAL of course. All the experts and forums said I'd need to convert it. However, I've just done an experiment by putting some of the NTSC footage on my pal time line. It looks better than the converted footage, it plays fine on the timeline without rendering and when I create a quicktime of it, it gets converted smoothly and appears to be great quality. So what's all the fuss about. have i missed something here or can I go ahead and use the NTSC footage in my pal timeline without fear of something horrible happening down the line somewhere or when i go to create DVD's?
I'd prefer to use the NTSC footage as its better quality than the stuff converted into PAL.
Any help would be ace.
Cheers
Kelly
|
|
11/Dec/2008, 9:50 pm
|
Send Email to KellyH
Send PM to KellyH
|
footagehead
Registered user
Global user
Registered: 11-2006
Posts: 217
Karma: 3 (+3/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: NTSC vs PAL
Hi KellyH
was the footage you shot 1080i60 and is your PAL timeline
1080i50?
What format was the footage converted to that it looks so bad?
How was the footage converted?
I will need to get more information about your process to
help you.
Best Regards
Footagehead
|
|
12/Dec/2008, 10:26 pm
|
Send Email to footagehead
Send PM to footagehead
|
KellyH
Registered user
Global user
Registered: 11-2006
Posts: 19
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: NTSC vs PAL
Hi Footagehead,
The footage was shot in 1080i60 and the timeline I working with is HD 1440 x 1080 which is 1080i50 I presume.
The footage was converted through our VT dept. at work and was put onto digi beta so its now in SD. It doesn't look bad but you can see the difference between the SD and the native 1080i60. I can continue to work with SD no problem. Its just that I want it to look as good as it can and as far as I can see the NTSC appears to be working on my PAL timeline, and I didn't think it was supposed to, especially after everything you read about converting it. I don't want to get a week down the track and discover I have to relay all my converted (SD) footage where the NTSC footage is because the finished product, rendering, creating DVD's etc is not going to work. If its safer then I'll just stick with the SD footage that I've had converted I guess. Just curious really.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers
Kelly
|
|
13/Dec/2008, 8:09 pm
|
Send Email to KellyH
Send PM to KellyH
|
KellyH
Registered user
Global user
Registered: 11-2006
Posts: 19
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: NTSC vs PAL
Hi again, I'm starting to wonder if this footage is in NTSC. How can you tell by looking at the information given when I apple i. It says 1920x1080 apple intermediate codec, integer (big endian) which is exactly as all my PAL footage says.
Scratching my head.
|
|
14/Dec/2008, 7:53 pm
|
Send Email to KellyH
Send PM to KellyH
|
footagehead
Registered user
Global user
Registered: 11-2006
Posts: 217
Karma: 3 (+3/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: NTSC vs PAL
Hi KellyH the best way to check is inside FCP6.04 or later and inside the Quicktime Pro player version 7.5.5. Inside FCP6 select a clip from the bin and hit command 9. This should open the format section of the browser and this should list all the properties of the clip. Inside the Quicktime Pro player use command I which will open the Movie inspector. The decider will be the frame rate. If it was 1080i60 (i meaning interlaced) the frame rate will be seen as 29.97, or rounded up to 30. If it was 1080i50 the frame rate will be seen as 25. Some earlier model hardware format converters have problems with the field order of HDV. When they down res they see HDV as full HD 1080 and get the field order wrong. To compensate they mash the fields together which creates a softer image. If you shot this footage at NTSC on a Z1 your options would have been 720p(progressive-no fields), 720i or 1080i. The frame rate would have been 29.97 or 30. Both NTSC and PAL variants of HDV are upper field first. The Apple intermediate codec is an older format that has since been superceded by ProRes 422.
This format was all we had until FCP6.
You can get a pretty good downconversion of this HDV format to SD PAL 16:9 uncompressed 8 or 10 bit using the latest version of Compressor (version 3.05) which is part of Final Cut Studio 2.
My next question is are you using FCP 6?
If you are using 5.14 its probably best to live with what your VT department has given you unless you have the budget for a re transfer.
Best Regards
Footagehead
|
|
14/Dec/2008, 9:53 pm
|
Send Email to footagehead
Send PM to footagehead
|
KellyH
Registered user
Global user
Registered: 11-2006
Posts: 19
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: NTSC vs PAL
Thanks Footagehead,
I've checked as you explained and it is definitely NTSC. I am running fcp 6.0.5 so I will give the compressor a go. Thanks for your help.
Kelly
|
|
16/Dec/2008, 8:04 pm
|
Send Email to KellyH
Send PM to KellyH
|
