Project with mixed frame rates and resolutions - confused

[tarrickb]

Hello,

I am working on a project that has a wide range of videos. I'm converting all of them to a lossless codec with the help of AVISynth/VirtualDub/Lagarith. Here is a sample of frame rates and resolutions from three videos I will be using:

Video #1: 1000 x 566 and 29.970 fps
Video #2: 1000 x 532 and 25.000 fps
Video #3: 528 x 400 and 23.976 fps

I will be editing these videos in Sony Vegas and likely rendering to H.264. Now my questions is: When rendering, what selections of resolution and frame rate should I use? For example, do I choose the highest/lowest frame rate (does it matter) and do I choose the largest resolution for the rendered output? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading,
T.

[edDV]

Does it need to play on a TV? HD or SD?
What player?

[tarrickb]

For now, it will be used online (uploaded to Vimeo, etc) so the frame rate settings and resolution are flexible.

In the future it may be encoded for DVD, and at that point I know I'll have to lock into a specific frame rate and resolution to match the DVD specs.

[edDV]

"Standard" progressive resolutions are 1920x1080, 1280x720, 720x576 or 720x480.

Better to downscale than upscale for picture quality.

Semi-standard resolutions that may be accepted are

960x540 (quarter 1920x1080)
1024x576 (square pixel wide PAL)
768x576 (square pixel 4:3 PAL)
854x480 (square pixel wide NTSC)
640x480 (square pixel 4:3 NTSC)

Other resolutions that might be accepted
960x720 (720p with 0.75 PAR)
1440x1080 (0.75 PAR)

Look at Vimeo upload specs.

To match 23.976 to 29.97 frame rate, you need to repeat frames

2x for 29.97 to 59.94
2:3:2:3 for 23.976 to 59.94.

For 25fps, you will need to play 20% fast (2x repeat), interpolate new frames or construct an approximate frame repeat sequence.

2:2:3:2:2:3 frame repeats gets to 4% fast.

[tarrickb]

Thanks for your response.

I have to admit, that frame rate stuff went over my head. However, I tried rendering all three vids out of Vegas with 23.976 fps and all looked good (in-sync etc). Could it be that Vegas is doing all the tech work to render the video in the correct fps?

As for the resolution, I think I will aim for a wide-screen, square pixel resolution that is around average to all the videos I have. Then, hopefully most videos will be downscaled and not upscaled. Am I making sense?
Thanks,
T.