25 or 29.97fps?

[pooksahib]

Hi. I'm converting some wmv files (25fps) to mp4. Is there any benefit to making the mp4's at 29.97fps or is it better to leave the fps as 'original'?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[netmask56]

As you are in the UK and the original file is 25fps (UK standard) why would you want to convert to 29.97 (USA standard) ?

[guns1inger]

If there original source was actually film then there might be a case for attempting to slow it down (or IVTC, depending on the footage) back to 23.976 fps. Otherwise leave it as it.

[pooksahib]

Thanks for that. I know the UK standard is 25 but my DVD player handles 25 and 29 (I'm going to be watching these files via my DVD player and TV) . My logic (warped or otherwise) tells me that 29fps would generate a smoother picture than 25.

[guns1inger]

You only have 25 fps to play with. To create 29.970 fps you would have to either duplicate almost 1 frame in every 5, or blend almost 1 frame in every 5 in order to make up the missing frames. Either way you get stutter, not smooth playback. Or you could simply speed everything up to 29.970 fps, and make everything look silly by having it all move 20% faster than normal. Neither gets you what you want.

[pooksahib]

Thanks again. I've obviously got the wrong idea about what a conversion program does - I imagined it as a 'camera' making a fresh recording of the original video meaning you could set it to whatever fps you liked.

[edDV]

For that you need to go back to the camera and shoot again

It is possible to interpolate to a different frame rate but that adds blur and artifacts.