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Joe Herth Author

Level 1

45 points

60p vs 60i video quality

Sorry for asking a very common question but every thread I've searched tends to go down a tangent that doesn't quite answer my question.

I have a Panasonic camcorder that records in 1080 60p or 60i.

My question is video quality. Even though all my output is going to be turned into 30 fps for Apple TV viewing or 30i for YouTube distribution, is my video quality going to be higher, shooting in 60p with a data rate of 34 MB/s vs 60i at 17 MB/s whether the subject is fast moving or not. My thought is to shoot in 60p at the higher data rate even though it will be converted to 30 fps and possible even interlaced for youtube, due to I am dealing with full frames, not interlaced frames and at a higher data rate. Is my logic correct?

I know the file size is doubled shooting in 60p vs 60i, but if the video quality is higher, then I am willing to make that sacrafic.

I guess a follow up question would be, how does FCP convert 60p video into 30i video.

Thanks for your help.

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 5:18 PM

Top-ranking reply

A.Y.

Level 1

63 points

Posted on Jan 29, 2013 11:44 AM

Joe,

1080 60i = 60 1920X540 interlaced fields per second recorded/interlaced onto 30 1920x1080 frames per second. Since two 1920x540 fields taken 1/60th of a second apart are recorded/interlaced onto one 1920x1080 frame, there will only be 30 1920x1080 frames per second.

Since field 1 contains only the odd lines (upper field) from the first image this is why it only has 1920x540 resolution and field 2 taken 1/60th of a second later contains only the even lines (lower field) from the second image and both fields are recorded/combined/interlaced onto one 1920x1080 frame.

How interlacing works: http://www.neuron2.net/LVG/interlacing.html

You can see progressive is way better than interlace. A Mac with an i3 and better processor will have no problem playing back 1080 60p videos smoothly. For older machines, it's easy to downsize the 1080 60p videos to 1080 30p, 720 60p, or 720 30p with NLE, but archive the 60p AVCHD source for future use.

Uploading 1080p videos to YouTube, the site will automatically prepare 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, and 240p resolutions so people with older computers can easily choose a resolution appropriate for their machines. Since YouTube doesn't support 1080 60p yet, just convert 60p to 30p and upload.

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33 replies

Joe Herth Author

Level 1

45 points

Jan 29, 2013 3:02 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I'm using FCP7. I'm not sure how to set the viewer to show both fields.

A.Y.

Level 1

63 points

Feb 12, 2013 8:56 AM in response to A.Y.

Correction: "WITH THE PROJECT PROPERTIES CUSTOM SET TO 1080 30P" and a 1080 60i clip is added to the timeline and "Shared", FCPX will output a 1080 30p .mov (or .mp4) video like this:

Joe Herth Author

Level 1

45 points

Feb 12, 2013 1:00 PM in response to A.Y.

I'll do the test. Thanks A.Y.

Oh and I liked your comment of 'and play them on the machine you plan to get'. 🙂 How did you know? 😉

60p vs 60i video quality