HDV & DV framerate vs bitrate

[turk690]

If I had two HDV camcorders, one designed to capture 1080i/25fps and the other 1080i/29.97fps (such as a Sony HDC-HC7 for Europe & another for the USA), since the resolutions are the same, would the one with the higher frame rate result in a higher bitrate? Or is an HDV stream always 25Mb/s regardless of framerate?

[aedipuss]

doesn't matter if it was 1080p 60fps, if it was going onto HDV tape it would still be the same bitrate as SD miniDV.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Or is an HDV stream always 25Mb/s regardless of framerate?

Yup.

[edDV]

Always the same bit rate for 1440x1080i so "PAL" is 20% less compressed due to 20% lower frame rate.

[turk690]

So is it possible that I shoot, say, a scene of either breaking waves at the beach or a waterfall up close (in my experience always drives offline MPEG encoders nuts, let alone on the fly such as HDV would be), with first a 1080i/29.97p camcorder and then a 1080i/25fps camcorder, then see that due to being "20% less compressed" the 1080i/25fps HDV stream will show less artifacts?? Will there be a difference between the two at all with identical shooting conditions? Is it significant? Or am I making a mountain out of a molehill? I'm about to buy an HDV camcorder and am torn between the two. In the stores the only thing they'll allow is to shoot at some kitschy still display that will never show motion artifacts of any sort. While I can borrow HDV camcorders they are of different brands (one is a European Canon HV20 & the other a US Sony HDC-HC7). I like to carry out this experiment with identical models the only difference between them being the framerates. Barring all that, here I am.

[racer-x]

You should buy the one that supports your TV format (PAL= 25 fps / NTSC= 29.97 fps)................

All things being equal, higher frame rate is always better for motion. Lower frame rate is better for compressing.

[edDV]

Agreed. The compression difference will be small. The post production workflow differences could be great.

There is yet another option 24P.

For those in the "NTSC" region shooting framerate options are 23.976, 29.97 or 59.94 fps. HDV does not support 59.94 but DVCPro does.