Need to convert to 1080/50i. Should I shoot at 1080/60i or 1080/24p?

I'm working with a client that needs my footage in 1080/50i. I'm shooting on a Panasonic HMC 150... and as I see it, my options are either shoot at 1080/60i or 1080/24p... then convert using Compressor. Any thoughts on which would be best? I'm guessing 1080/24p, but I've never converted a progressive image to interlaced.

Thomas

P.S. Years ago I used Graeme Nattress' plug-in to convert DV footage from NTSC to PAL. Has he updated the plug-ins so they work with HD footage?

Yes, they work in HD for 50i to 60i and 60i to 50i conversions. And 60i to 24p too. Remember to set field orders to upper.

However, best way, visually, to convert between "NTSC" and "PAL" is to pretend you're shooting film at 24p, which gets converted to NTSC via standard 3:2 pulldown and to PAL by speeding up 4%. The conform option in Cinema Tools is the best way to do the 24p to 25p conversion.

Alternatively shoot 25p and you can slow down 4% in CT for NTSC, then add 3:2 pulldown. Either way works with superb quality.

It programme running length will be an issue with the 4% speedup or slowdown, then you can use my Standards Converter to do a very nice 25p to 60i conversion - it adds a modified pulldown to the PAL, and looks pretty darn good to me! This only incurs the 0.1% speed change of 30.00 to 29.97fps because NTSC is no an integer fps.

Graeme

[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X