HVX at 30P - Who uses it, for what, and why?

Ted Spencer

Ted Spencer

Veteran
The title pretty much says it, but I'd also ask if anyone has good reasons *not* to use 30p.

I recently shot a musical theater piece at 720/30p, and like the results, feeling like it hit a happy medium between 24p's greater tendency to "strobe", and 60i's video-ish-ness and P2 card appetite. But I did find that on one of my DVD players (out of many others of mine and my clients, all of which played it fine) it produced truly horrible interlacing artifacts. Evidently the player, a high end Pioneer Elite I bought a few years back (a DV-47ai) doesn't recognize 30p DVDs properly and tries to deinterlace them (or something like that). 24p looks fine on it, as does 60i. But the artifacts it generates at 30p are really, really awful - even the least technically savvy viewer would spot it instantly. Anyone else encounter this?

An upside I do know about is 30p is it's one way around the HVX's tendency to get "jaggies" at 480/60i, which of course is otherwise the 'consumer camcorder default' format. I've got a client who's likely to be doing a fair amount of tape work on their HVX, and want to be as well informed on the pros and cons of 30p as possible before we commit to creating a large quantity of new material.

Just wondering what others might be using (or avoiding) 30p for...
 
We use 720/30p on everything except for hi speed or action shots. in our little motor sports world, 30p is for talking heads, interviews, product shots and tech segments. 60P on all action shots etc.
 
Using 30p is an artistic choice, above anything else -- you should use it if it gives you the look you want. People do use it for the reasons you say, though.

Reasons to avoid -- you can pretty much forget about converting to 24p, which means a 24 fps film-out, or 24p DVD, isn't going to happen (not well, anyway), and you won't get a good conversion to PAL/50 Hz, either. And even if you're staying 29.97, some people can't stand the hybrid film/video look to it. (I, personally, don't hate the look, but it's not 24p, and I want 24p for most of what I do.)

I think the worst reason to use 30p is when you actually would RATHER have 24p, but you want to "avoid" 24p pulldown issues. (Not saying that you are, just that people do.) If 24p is really what you want, you should shoot 24p and deal with everything you gotta deal with. Compromising your image because it's easier isn't a habit you should be in. :)
 
I use it for nearly everything. I make commercials for a living. I know that nothing I normally produce on a day to day basis will be going to film. No pull down issues, extends p2 card time, and looks pretty good.

The only time I use any other format is if I'm doing green screen work (then I jump to 1080i).
 
Personally the only time I've used it is to match footage.

I think this goes to the point made already, that it's all about what you need.

I think with the influx of 24p capable stuffs many have looked to 30 as the "old tech", but to be quite frank it isn't. I'll continue using 24 most of the time, because I personally have made the artistic choice to do so, but in the end it's all about what the project calls for.
 
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