24p vs 48p

Hxc

Hxc

Hxc

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Was casually browsing the net today when I came across this article on Engadget about how the Hobbit is being filmed in 48p rather than the now traditional 24p.

My initial reaction was to think how ace this is, that surely a higher frame rate is better.

So I watched the two demo videos (25 vs 50fps in this case) and wow, how wrong was I. 25fps looks like a normal movie, 50fps looks like everything is running at triple speed and like a behind the scenes feature.

It seems like I'm definiltely not alone in this, but I was wondering what people here thought?
 
It's hard to describe but it does somehow feel like its playing at 2x speed without being faster. It's like things are smoother which seems unnatural. Maybe it's just because of what we are used to?
 
The 50 fps one didn't like right, if you know what i mean. The 25fps one seemed more 'natural'?
 
When I go to my friends house, he has a HDTV and some box, everything I've ever watched there (Sober or drunk) always looks weird, unnatural.
Pretty similar to that 50 frame rate one.
 
Hxc said:
My initial reaction was to think how ace this is, that surely a higher frame rate is better.

So I watched the two demo videos (25 vs 50fps in this case) and wow, how wrong was I. 25fps looks like a normal movie, 50fps looks like everything is running at triple speed and like a behind the scenes feature.
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I know exactly how you feel.

50/60FPS does sound technologically better, the motion is much more fluid and for some media such as sports on HDTV, this can be extremely advantageous.

24/25FPS is a much more natural format for feature films, it just feels right. I get the same feeling of everything being on fast forward too.

If you want to properly sample 50/60FPS with a feature film, I recommend Splash Pro. It has a pretty decent frame interpolation option which up-converts 24/25FPS into 50/60FPS by digitally creating new frames in between. It gives the same effect as raw 50/60FPS footage.
 
I've always thought 48 fps looks too real. If I ever watch anything on a tv setup for 48fps all I can think about is about it looks like you're look through a window at live action. I don't like it. :p
 
Glaucus said:
They look identical to me.
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The difference is massive though? Particularly on the ball throwing scene. It's a massive massive change and creates a movement that, by looking too lifelike, looks like it's not real. As the article says, it's almost like the 'uncanny valley' of computer animation.

The other thing about it is if we do swap to the 48p format for a lot of films, watching older material is going to be hard work. If you look at high FPS movies for a long time you begin to adapt to the movement, even though it's still slightly 'unnatural', going back to the 24p one you can really feel the 'jutter'. It's an odd sensation.
 
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Less whine!

Wait for it, watch it how it is supposed to be watched then make a decision.

Jackson has already stated it's not for every type of movie and a comparison of people walking around a fairground is hardly the artistic base from which ANYONE should draw an opinion.

If it's carp you can watch it in 24FPS, if it works it might usher in a new generation of movies that are different. Everyone loves a bit of diversity, so let's see and go from there?
 
The smoothness definitely looks 'weird' as you aren't used to watching it - it's basically filming in the same way that many newer TV sets have a "TrueMotion" which will interpolate frames up to a higher frame rate or similar. Makes a massive difference to the watchability of 3D movies - the judder during movement is very noticeable unless it is smoothed out - conversely in 2D it does look odd, like the movie is a 'filmed for TV' movie or something :p
 
In those example videos, and in pretty much every test of this I've done over the years, 24/25fps looks like film and 48/50+fps looks like home video or TV shows. I suspect that a 48fps feature film will look 'cheap and nasty' to me even if the production quality is high, just because that's the impression I've always had of high frame rate footage :)
 
it does look slightly odd but remember they say the footage is 50fps not 48.

once you get used to it it looks fine. im sure after 5 mins of the hobbit your eyes would be accustomed and it would be cool.

its really weird as we all play games from 25fps right up to 120fps and it looks ok. so why should movies look different? i guess we are used to motion blur?
 
Skillmister said:
It's hard to describe but it does somehow feel like its playing at 2x speed without being faster. It's like things are smoother which seems unnatural. Maybe it's just because of what we are used to?
Click to expand...

It does feel like 2x sped up but I would put that down to the flash player not playing it smoothly.

Watching 60fps video is smooth when viewed in a media player.

I like it better this way as it's way smoother.
 
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