Mixing 720p and 1080p footage

[Peter Manojlovic]

Here's my scenario.

I've got the opportunity to edit a wedding video next week. The contractor has no clue about cameras or acquisition. He mustered up a two camera shoot. Both HDV cameras.
One is a JVC HD variant, and the other is a Sony HDV. I will verify the models later.
I have been informed by a local rental company, that i will definately need two decks (JVC) and (Sony) for capturing.
I can add that to the final cost of the edit of course...

But here's my problem.

Since JVC's shoot 720P at 60fps, and Sonys can shoot 1080P at 30fps, how can i possibly mix the footage in the same sequence?

I'm still running Premiere Pro with CS4, with a Matrox RT.X2 card, and am not sure if i can put those two formats on the same timeline.
This is important when i do my multicam work. I'm not even worried about "looks" for now, as i am about functionality.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[Eric Olson]

Originally Posted by Peter Manojlovic

Since JVC's shoot 720P at 60fps, and Sonys can shoot 1080P at 30fps, how can i possibly mix the footage in the same sequence?

The Sony camera must be a VG10 since that one only shoots 30p. I don't know any JVC camera that only shoots 60p. Maybe the JVC camera will also shoot 30p and then your problem is solved?

[Peter Manojlovic]

Alrighty...

So best case scenario, is that as long as i can get 30P out of either 720, or 1080, then i can mix and match both footages on the same timeline?
I was thinking of using a master sequence or 1080, and simply using the 720 footage, and using auto scale to sequence. Or vice versa.

[Eric Olson]

Originally Posted by Peter Manojlovic

I was thinking of using a master sequence or 1080, and simply using the 720 footage, and using auto scale to sequence. Or vice versa.

The motion characteristics of 720p30 will be much easier to match with 1080p30 than if you shoot the JVC in 720p60 mode. This is assuming you aren't planning any smooth slow motion cutaways. Are you delivering HD?

[Paul R Johnson]

I've been mixing 1080 and DV in a few projects and the best results seem to come from working the edit as a 720 project - from the point of up and down scaling content. Results much better than I thought onto DVD.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Originally Posted by Peter Manojlovic

Since JVC's shoot 720P at 60fps, and Sonys can shoot 1080P at 30fps, how can i possibly mix the footage in the same sequence?

I'm not sure which JVC only shoots 59.94p (60p). I'm sure there's a 720p29.97 option.

Even otherwise, you just need to drop half the frames and they should match perfectly - interpret 59.94p as 29.97p in the premiere project window. The 1080p29.97 is interpreted as 29.97p

Project could be in 1080p29.97 or 720p29.97 - depending on your delivery requirements.

Hope this helps.