1080i PAL vs. NTSC quality?

[W_Eagle]

On standard TV resolutions (720x576 for PAL and 720x480 for NTSC), PAL had a better Image Quality, due to higher vertical resolution.

It seems to me that in 1080i HDV, the resolution, both horizontal and vertical, is the same, for both NTSC and PAL. It seems to me that the only difference here is the frame rate. Is there any difference in Image Quality between 1080i PAL and NTSC?

Also, it seems to me that since NTSC frame rate is higher than PAL, 1080i NTSC HDV will have higher bitrate than PAL. Is that correct?

[edDV]

On standard TV resolutions (720x576 for PAL and 720x480 for NTSC), PAL had a better Image Quality, due to higher vertical resolution.

It seems to me that in 1080i HDV, the resolution, both horizontal and vertical, is the same, for both NTSC and PAL. It seems to me that the only difference here is the frame rate. Is there any difference in Image Quality between 1080i PAL and NTSC?

Also, it seems to me that since NTSC frame rate is higher than PAL, 1080i NTSC HDV will have higher bitrate than PAL. Is that correct?

Yes, HDV has the same 1440x1080i resolution for PAL or NTSC. PAL uses 25fps, NTSC uses 29.97fps. For NTSC, progressive film material is telecined to 29.97fps but can be inverse telecined back to progressive at 23.976fps. PAL tradition is to simply speed progressive film source from 24fps to 25fps and process audio for pitch.

Another way to look at 1080i interlace video, NTSC uses 59.94 fields per second while PAL uses 50 fields per second. NTSC has higher motion detail and less flicker than PAL. When combined with a good hardware deinterlacer, NTSC HDV can produce a reasonable quality 1080p stream at 59.94 frames per second by interpolating a frame from each field. PAL 1080i can be deinterlaced into a 50 frame per second stream.

Higher end formats (HDCAM and DVCProHD) provision full 59.94/50 frame per second acquisition at 720p. These cameras are used for sports and other high action applications. The HDV format supports 720p but at 29.97/25 frames per second maximum.

[W_Eagle]

Thanks.
In the end of the day, which is better, 720p@59.95/50, or 1080i@29.97/25?

Also, if I understand you correctly, in 1080i, in NTSC, motion is smoother than in PAL, at the cost of higher bitrate. Is that right?

[SatStorm]

Hi W_Eagle.

720p/50 IMO is better.

[edDV]

Thanks.
In the end of the day, which is better, 720p@59.95/50, or 1080i@29.97/25?

Also, if I understand you correctly, in 1080i, in NTSC, motion is smoother than in PAL, at the cost of higher bitrate. Is that right?

Yes motion is smoother for NTSC 1080i HDV. Also flicker is less but that is less an issue in PAL countries. Usually in PAL countries you want to stay with 50Hz for compatibility with the PAL television environment.

For progressive, 720p@59.95/50, has twice the motion samples compared to 1080i@29.97/25 but also double the bitrate at the same compression. 720p@59.95/50 has approximately the same bitrate as 1080i@29.97/25.

[W_Eagle]

Hi W_Eagle.

Hello my old friend.