Convert 1080i25 to 1080p50 or 720p50?

[Ronaldinho]

I have a 1080i25 video that I need to convert to progressive. I don't know a whole lot about video encoding but I have picked up a fair bit of knowledge from browsing sites like this.

I use Handbrake for encoding, and I've been told that if I want to keep the same (or as close to as possible) amount of motion when encoding interlaced to progressive, that I should double the frame rate and select the "Bob" deinterlacer. All my videos look great after encoding like this, but I've only ever encoded to 720p and now I want to encode to 1080p50, but I want to know if there is any real benefit in doing this, because I've read that 1080i25 is no better in quality than 720p50...

I know that if I convert 1080i25 to 1080p50 that I am not creating a "true" 1080p50 video, but would I be correct in saying that it is still better than converting to 720p50 (assuming I use the same bit rate)?

Thanks in advance

[jagabo]

I know that if I convert 1080i25 to 1080p50 that I am not creating a "true" 1080p50 video, but would I be correct in saying that it is still better than converting to 720p50 (assuming I use the same bit rate)?

Depends on the bitrate and how sharp your source is. Using a good smart bob, like QTGMC in AviSynth, on a sharp source, with sufficient bitrate, will give you a better looking result at 1080p.

[Ronaldinho]

I know that if I convert 1080i25 to 1080p50 that I am not creating a "true" 1080p50 video, but would I be correct in saying that it is still better than converting to 720p50 (assuming I use the same bit rate)?

Depends on the bitrate and how sharp your source is. Using a good smart bob, like QTGMC in AviSynth, on a sharp source, with sufficient bitrate, will give you a better looking result at 1080p.

Okay, thanks Jagabo. That's the kind of answer I was looking for