Comments

busterkeaton wrote on 7/11/2006, 3:26 PM
why would it be different than other conversions?
Laurence wrote on 7/11/2006, 3:57 PM
Well 60i or 24p convert nicely, but 30p does not. Friends is shot 30p on film and transferred to video with a 2-2 pulldown. It should look like hell. I haven't actually seen it so I don't know how well it survives the conversion. I'm just mentioning it because I see DVD copies in the shops here in London where I'm on vacation. One of the big things holding me back from just shooting Cineframe 30 HDV and doing 30p SD DVDs is how they would look in PAL land. That's why I'm so curious.
Laurence wrote on 7/11/2006, 4:15 PM
There's a review of a DVD set here:

http://www.dvdfever.co.uk/reviews/friend4a.shtml

Towards the bottom of the page is the following quote:

"Presented in a 4:3 ratio and free of artifacts, the picture looks a bit on the blurry and hazy side thanks to the NTSC-PAL standards conversion. However, if you're used to watching it on TV, it looks just the same as on here. The average bitrate hovers around 5.5Mb/s per episode."
farss wrote on 7/11/2006, 4:57 PM
I'm having difficulty working out why they'd shoot 30fps.
Film is damn expensive, 24fps runs in NTSC and PAL without issue which is why a lot of high budget shot for TV stuff is shot on 35mm or 16mm. Personally I think these guys have slipped a sprocket.

All that aside though 30fps film to 50i mightn't be that difficult, remember these guys have access to gear we can only dream about.

Bob.
Jayster wrote on 7/11/2006, 5:05 PM
By 50i do you meant HDTV? How much HD OTAR is there in your neck of the woods? Lots, I would hope. I live in Dallas, TX and we have about 19 channels of digital broadcast (some in languages I don't speak...)
farss wrote on 7/11/2006, 5:30 PM
Well I wasn't differentiating between SD or HD but yes there's a fair amount of 1080 @ 50i broadcast down here and at full bandwidth.
There's a LOT more SD broadcast over DVB, well in fact by law ALL OTA is broadcast in DVB and analogue. The analogue transmitters are slated to get turned off some time soon.
The uptake of DVB STBs is pretty good, I don't know anyone that isn't using one, the quality difference between DVB and analogue is pretty staggering if you run RGB to the TV.
I think that's part of the reason why we've gone against the EBU's recommendations for 720p, the jump from SD PAL to 720p doesn't look that dramatic.
David Jimerson wrote on 7/11/2006, 7:39 PM
Where did you read that "Friends" was shot on film at 30 fps? I can't find that anywhere.
mbryant wrote on 7/12/2006, 3:49 AM
My kids are watching Friends re-runs alot lately, so I've seen it recently on UK TV.. and it doesn't look any worse than any other NTSC programs.

Mark
Coursedesign wrote on 7/12/2006, 10:27 PM
the jump from SD PAL to 720p doesn't look that dramatic.

Now, picky, picky! That's going from 720x576 to 720x960 pixels (at 1.31 PAR) in return for paying a toxic waste disposal fee to get rid of your old space heater Standard Definition CRT, and then buying a completely new HD set for more than you paid for your first car...

Hmmm.

Interesting that all the commercial services in Europe are 1080i...

Perhaps the EBU is becoming irrelevant?