P or I ? (for broadcast)

Chris Johnston

Chris Johnston

Veteran
I've been doing a local show (several actually) for many years that is broadcast
locally (< 1 mil viewers). I've always delivered a 4x3 sd interlaced footage but I've just ordered all new gear (150) and will be shooting the shows in HD but still delivering the end products in a 16x9 sd format.

The 150 records in 1080/60i, or 1080/30p (over 60i) I haven't talked to the station about this yet but are there any advantages/disadvantages to shooting one or the other and how do those effect the broadcast quality? (I assume 1080P would be better for effects/ compositing etc, but the vast majority of stuff will be cooking shows and doco stuff, psa's, commercials, etc. All for broadcast, no web stuff. So just normal cutting, no fancy explosions or heavy CC.

Any recommendations? Should I just edit it all on a 1080 60i timeline since it's all going to be interlaced on tv anyway? or 1080 30P and let Encore interlace it on the DVD delivery disk? or Just make everything progressive and let the station do it?
 
I would never want to do so. However, sometimes your deliverable would require it. If you're supposed to be shooting 1080/60i for a 1080/60i network, and that's what they ask for, then you'd have to give it to them. I remember being at NAB talking to someone from, I think, HDNet, who was fervently advocating that the one true HD format is 1080/60i. He considered 720/60p to be "medium def".

Another example might be if you're delivering stock footage and the stock house wants 1080/60i.

Or if you are doing private network/closed circuit stuff (like for conventions or whatnot) and they want 1080/60i.

Or if their display equipment only supports 1080/60i (there are some HD monitors that don't know what to do with a 720p signal).

Or if the circumstances dictate that you need to deliver the "live"/"reality" look, in 1080 res. 720/60p does the live look, just like 1080/60i does, but 60p is progressive and 60i is interlaced. Sometimes folks want that 1080 signal. In those cases, you might have to shoot 60i.
 
I've recently had a network request to shoot material in 1080/60i. I explained to them the reasons why I'd prefer not to, but it's a workflow thing, and it's what they need. The client is (almost) always right. :D
 
I should say that the client (station) has NOT requested interlaced. I obviously wrongly assumed that if it's going to be broadcast as interlaced, you might want to shoot it that way?........


I take it from the responces, I should always be shooting (and editing) progressive, no matter what. (or unless they request it)
 
That really was the basis for my question about interlace vs progressive. I have a friend who shoots weddings and events and chooses to shoot 1080i60. He has some occasional interlace issues in his NLE and I am left wondering why anyone would choose to shoot interlace if it wasn't required by the customer.
videohog said:
I should say that the client (station) has NOT requested interlaced. I obviously wrongly assumed that if it's going to be broadcast as interlaced, you might want to shoot it that way?........


I take it from the responces, I should always be shooting (and editing) progressive, no matter what. (or unless they request it)
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