Is 720p acceptable for cinema projection?

R

rc444

Well-known member
Hello DVXusers,

I wanted to get everyone's opinion on 720p.

It would appear that camera manufacturers bundle 720p into the low-end DSLRs/video. I know 720p is still used for sport, however, it still seems 720p is marketed as a consumer/amateur HD format.

I've seen 720p footage and it looks great. If you were, however, to project 720p in a cinema, would it be more pixelatted than viewing 1080p projection? Would 720p look more grainy and super sixteeny compared to the larger resolution of 1080p? I read somewhere 1080p was designed to be watched from a greater distance than 720p. But does 720p have a place for projection, or does 720p strictly belong for home viewing or youtube?

Cheers
David
 
It's the content that matters, if your film is truely captivating then no one in the auditorium would complain about the resolution. Also, pay attention to the sound.
 
720p footage won't look as good as 1080p footage, which won't look as good as S16 footage. Cinemas project at 2k so your 720p footage is a far cry from that. However, if the story's good enough, and it is technically proficient enough, many are abel to forgive a smaller resolution.
 
jax_rox said:
720p footage won't look as good as 1080p footage, which won't look as good as S16 footage. Cinemas project at 2k so your 720p footage is a far cry from that. However, if the story's good enough, and it is technically proficient enough, many are abel to forgive a smaller resolution.
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Yup, 720 is perfectly watchable, as indeed is even good old SD - I saw a whole heap of SD footage on a big screen at a recent 48 Hrs film making competition. If people are watching the pixels, it's probably a boring film :)

But that's not to say a professional film distributor would agree...
 
A crap film shot on 35mm is still going to be a crap film. A good film shot in SD is still a good film.
 
Also a camera that resolves 720 lines and has good colour/dr is better than nearly any other sub $10k camera

So are we talking 720 or 720 ?

To me 720*1280*3colours*24FPS = 66MBS, which is more than a lot of '1080' cameras kick out

S
 
If you open up a 720p and 1080p image, its hard to tell a difference, sometimes even on big screens
 
Put the side by side on the big screen and yes you could absolutely tell the difference in the pixelation of the 720 vs the 1080 (as you could 1080 vs 4K or film). However, as noted not enough most audiences would care.
 
I agree, we tend to forget that pixel peepers make up about .00009 percent of viewers that watch movies or what ever. Heck, I talk to alot of filmmakers and photographers that never get that crazy about looking for little flaws in image quality. Their concerned with things like "did I capture the emotion"

People watch for the content, and despite what Gary Huff may argue (just bustin your chops Gary, I'm betting you did real well on your high school debate team. lol) thats what matters in the end. Was it a good film?, did it entertain?, did you leave the theatre saying? "that was awful, or great". I have seen hundreds of reporters standing on the outside of a theatre over the years asking viewers if they enjoyed a movie (even as far back as the exoricist, shining, and Jaws) moreless for viewer response. I have never seen a reporter ask anyone that just watched a movie if they noticed any blocky pixels, or artifacting in the image. I mean in a day and age where its common to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a film, and the cgi still looks like crap a good amount of the time, people expect to see flaws that are blatently obvious, and they really dont care, they know there's no such thing as the Hulk, and therefore are willing to except less than realistic effects, and they dont let it spoil their experience, it's part of the process. Thats what movie making is, 90% fantasy, illusion, 10% reality. or even maybe less.

If that were the case, we would never use a jump cut would we. People let their minds fill in the blanks, thats why movies work. Ok, still half a sleep, sorry for the run on.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
Sound is the MUCH bigger issue. People will watch a film that looks pretty bad. They will instantly turn off a film that sounds bad.
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Very true a 720p image is acceptable in theaters, but remember in theaters the sound systems play very clearly and loud, so a normal zoom recorder wont work. On your headphones it may sound good, but in theater you'll hear EVERYTHING. Even that PA talking to his mom on the phone under his breath
 
Yea 720p is fine. In my market (Christian market) lots of films were filmed on the Varicam in the last decade or so. Facing The Giants & Fireproof...both very popular (Fireproof bringing in 33mil at BO) was shot on 720p Varicam but they used the HDSDI out while shooting to uprez right to 1080 Prores on set. The image still looks like a 720p uprezzed image (looks really similar to the AF100) but when seeing it in a theater, it looked wonderful.

720p is just a pixel size...you can have very soft 720p footage and it won't look as great. Detailed/sharp 720p will look very different. Just because you have all those pixels doesn't mean the camera is using them well, that takes work :)
 
I guess I'm gonna be the sole outlier here-- yes, a good story is always better than good resolution, but for the GENERAL viewing public, lower resolution is going to subconsciously equal lower budget, which will almost always subconsciously equal worse movie. That's just how it is.

Sometimes the low budget stuff can scrape by if the story is really, really solid (Reservoir Dogs)... but 720p is asking a LOT for the general viewing public to accept as a legitimate movie.

and before i get flamed, please note that i said general viewing public (repeatedly) and am assuming commercial theatrical distribution. 48 hr. film competitions are a totally different story.
 
Yes, in a way you're right, at a festival for example it's not going to matter as much as that's almost what is expected, but if you were up there against summer blockbusters, people may wonder why they made the effort to see something in a theatre that they could've watched at the exact same quality at home for less.

But it really depends on your distribution. If you're asking because it's only ever going to be shown in a theatre at the premiere, then you'll be fine. If you're asking for the sake of festivals, the answer is it depends on the festival's rules. If you're asking because you want to release a high action summer blockbuster, but keep your costs down by shooting 720p, then it's going to be a different story.
 
Is there a difference? Absolutely, especially when shot on DSLR as you mentioned (aliasing introduced by line skipping in the DSLRs is awful). Does it really matter? Well given that you are asking this question, I would say probably not. But most "low end DSLRs" that shoot 720p also shoot 1080p.
 
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