720/1080 quality difference

J

jimstamos

Active member
is there a noticeable difference in quality between the two? i seel alot shoot in 720p instead. are they getting alot more time on the sxs or is there not much difference visually between the two.
whats the pros/cons of shooting 720p over 1080, some good input on this welcome
 
The recording time is the same on an SxS regardless of the resolution which means you have less pixels to compress when your in 720p, this is good for fast motion material.
 
jimstamos said:
is there a noticeable difference in quality between the two? i seel alot shoot in 720p instead. are they getting alot more time on the sxs or is there not much difference visually between the two.
whats the pros/cons of shooting 720p over 1080, some good input on this welcome
Click to expand...

1. Yes, the difference in quality IS noticeable, therefore:

2. Use 720p ONLY if you need 50(60)p of which 1080 is not capable, or

3. Use 720/24(25,30)p if you need overcranking,

4. Otherwise, always use 1080 (and my personal advice is use it in progressive mode, as well).
 
Hey, it's cool that this thread was created because I was recently wondering... what is the ideal scenario for an overcranked 720p shot that will be in the middle of a 1080p project destined to cinemas? The quality difference should be camouflaged as much as possible.

We already now iris should be at 4... but what about zoom? And another question: considering iris can't be at 4 and must be, say, at 1.9, does the ideal zoom value still stand? Or it changes when the iris changes?

Of couse I was going to test all this stuff but myself but, hey, I saw this thread so I took advantage of it :D.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
 
moldcad said:
1. Yes, the difference in quality IS noticeable, therefore:

2. Use 720p ONLY if you need 50(60)p of which 1080 is not capable, or

3. Use 720/24(25,30)p if you need overcranking,

4. Otherwise, always use 1080 (and my personal advice is use it in progressive mode, as well).
Click to expand...


Ditto to everything Piotr said, especially number 4.
 
There is a visible difference between 720 and 1080 with screens larger than about 36".

Third'd Piotr's comments.

If you need to downconvert to standard definition 60i I recommend shooting 720/60p. Due to computer math with interlaced footage for something reason it just looks better in my testing. However for 24p productions 1080 is the way to go. It looks GORGEOUS on upconverter DVD player as long as you set the appropriate 24p flags and whatnot.

So, to reiterate:

1080/24p looks sweet. 30p if you're shooting JUST for web.
720/24p if you need overcranked (slow motion) footage
720/60p if you will deliver in just standard def 60i.

Users who shoot 720/24p may be saving some in data but are losing a lot in resolution. The XDCam EX codec is robust enough that any data savings is insignificant and you're better off shooting 1080 for the boost in resolution. Do some tests and come to your own conclusions.
 
this might not correlate, but man, i don't know about you guys, but when i was shopping for a plasma 42" screen i couldn't tell the difference between 720/1080 sets. for my money i found that the 720P Samsung PN42B450 looked better then any 1080P set no matter the screen size. and yes i got the remotes for every set and collaborated them the best i could. in my opinion i think it matters how you're gonna deliver your project, ie: web, SD down res, 35mm print, etc.

but on the other hand, unless you're trying to cut 720P overcranked footage with 24/25P material i would choose 720P. otherwise, ALWAYS shoot the highest res, 1080P. it looks much better when u decide to down res then to up res(yuk!!!!!!).
 
EX1 records 1080 native, unlike new JVC cameras, So yes, use 1080, unless you film high speed and use 720/60 or 50 for fast moving action. I would say my JVC GY-HM100 looks better in 720 (native resolution of the chip set, same codec as EX1), but EX1 footage looks much better in 1080.
 
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