1080i or 720p with HMC150?

[Anonymous]

I recently bought a Panasonic AG-HMC150 and I’ve recently been reading up about the differences about the recording modes and what they might mean as far as video quality with my new cam. It turns out that 1080i may not be as good as 720p and 1080p takes up too much compression and work for your pc to deal with. From what I’ve been reading, 720p it seems is the “sweet spot” so they say for the 150, but I always thought that 1080 was the best resolution for any cam, or HD tv for that matter, but now I’m not so sure. Can anyone shed some light on this subject? Thanks.

1zed4u.

[Rob]

Panasonics are weird. They use pixel shifting to achieve 1080 resolution. I’m not sure exactly what that means, I just know that 1080i/p for a lot of their cameras isn’t as sharp as other cameras’

So shoot 720p.

[composite1]

Personally, I happen to like 720p. Once it’s converted out of straight HDV or AVCHD then it’s really sweet to work with. 1080i is more of a Broadcast format and it looks great on TV. 1080 is a higher resolution but many cameras do like Rob said and cheat their way to it. Long as your clients don’t specifically request it, 720p’s just fine.

[Anonymous]

But when I see the footage I’ve taken after shooting in 108i, it looks absolutely fabulous. Why is that? I mean, if it is interlaced and it’s really only two fields of the same video, you would think that it would not look good since it is only supposed to be 540 lines in actuallity. So if I shoot in 1080p, will the footage look even better than 1080i?

[composite1]

“But when I see the footage I’ve taken after shooting in 108i, it looks
absolutely fabulous. Why is that?”

Zed,

Long story short:

The difference between 720p and 1080i

What are 720p, 1080i & 1080p HDTV Resolutions?

[Rob]

We’re not suggesting that 1080 on these cameras looks like garbage. I’ve edited 1080i footage from an HVX and that looks fine too.

What we’re saying is if you do a side by side comparison between your camera’s 1080i recording and another camera that records native 1080i, you will see that the panasonic is not as crisp.

I’ve even heard some people say an HVX’s 720p24 image looks more crisp than it’s own 1080p24 image.

[bob_mantell@sil.org]

You gota get Barry Green’s HMC 150/40 book. It answers so many questions It’s best to stick to 1080p or 720p since computers use progesive scan.

[randyvideo]

OK. If I use 720p vs. 1080i, should I use 720p24 or p30 or p60. My Panasonic AG-HMC40 supports all of these modes. Thanks.

[Rob]

“It’s best to stick to 1080p or 720p since computers use progesive scan.”

That really depends on what you’re delivering for. If you’re delivering for the web, then yea shoot progressive. There are instances where you want interlace though. Neither progressive nor interlace is the better choice. it just depends what you’re doing.

“should I use 720p24 or p30 or p60”

That’s your choice. 60p looks REALLY smooth when viewed in real-time and is great for converting to slo-mo. 24p is more film-like, although you’re a tool if you think shooting 24p will automatically make your video look like film

[composite1]

“You’re a tool if you think shooting 24p will automatically make your
video look like film”

You said “Tool”. Yup, it all depends on ultimate delivery format. Since the majority of my stuff goes to the ‘Net or DVD I prefer progressive scan. But if a client wants interlaced video, not a prob. Yeah, trying to mimic film with video has no ‘one off’ solution.

The smartest thing I ever saw or did in that arena is to make your video as ‘clean’ and hi-res as possible so it can be transferred to film without a lot of pain. Now though, you’ve got great new traditional and DSLR cameras that can give you the ‘feel’ of film without all the telecine and processing aggravation.

Since much of this stuff is going to digital delivery mediums, you really don’t need film unless you creatively want it. Obviously, there are still many types of looks film can achieve, but digital these days depending on the gear and your post setup can cover similar bases (though not all) with excellent results for far less money and time.

Look at it this way; 480i/p, 720p, 1080i/p are all ‘stocks’ of video similar to 16, Super 16, 35, Super 35 and 70mm film. You are not going to use 70mm for everything nor would you use 16mm in the same way. Each video format has its uses, ‘quirks’, strong points and outright PIA points. Whatever you need at the time, you can reach for just like you would golf clubs, bats or fishing rods.

[Anonymous]

All depends of your delivery needs. 1080/30i is the established HD format for professional Television and it’s a long history the why (in short, for 1080p which is better quality, the amount of infoper frametolls the bandwidth required in broadcast).

You should get better image (more resolution) with 1920×1080 than 720, but the pix shifting (I think they really register 1440 in place of 1920 and thenfake it) creates some quality issues.

[Author]

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