To 24p or not to 24p? That is the question

[djkoz]

OK, my ignorance is going to show here.

I recently purchased Sony Vegas 6 and have been reading books and viewing tutorials. I have a basic understanding of how the program works. However, I am confused in one area (well, actually several but for now, just one.)

The Panasonic DVX100A can shoot in 60i, 24p, 24pA and others . New projects in Vegas can be set up using a template for 60i or 24p. So, it appears that whether I shoot in 60i or 24p Vegas will be able to convert from one to the other.

Hence if I shoot in 60i Vegas will still be able to give me the film look if I set up my project to use a 24p template and render in that format.

Since 60i captures 60 fields a second versus 24p’s 24 frames a second, wouldn’t I get sharper results by always shooting in 60i and then converting to 24p in Vegas.

Does this question make any sense? or am I totally missing the picture here? (so to speak)

Thank you in advance for any clarification you can provide as to when I really would want or need to shoot the DVX100A in 24p(A) mode vs 60i. and visa-versa.

Dan K

 

[David Jimerson]

No.

When you convert from 60i to 24p, you lose up to half your vertical resolution.

And 60i only starts with about 75% of the vertical resoution of 24p to begin with.

Progressive shooting will yield higher resolution.

Shoot 24p when you want a dramatic, film-like look.

Shoot 60i when you want a "reality" look.

Shoot 60i if you're planning to do slo-mo. While it doesn't have the vertical resolution of 24p, it has better TEMPORAL resolution, so 60i is better for slo-mo.