advice on video format
 

If you were to shoot a documentary independently, not knowing if the end result will be a dvd/blueray project or a television broadcast (or both), what format would you choose? Pal-country. I am using an EX3 with nanoflash, but am still new in HD acquistion. So far I shot my footage 1080p/25 (at 100mb/s LongGop or higher bitrates I-frame only). Is 1080p/25 the right choice, or would you decide for another setting (1080i or 720p)? Any advice is welcome.

Cees, some years ago when got my first HD camera had precisely the same question in mind. My recommendation is to go for 1080p/25fps. And if so, remember to keep the pans and tilts slow enough.

In my experience in PAL countries broadcasting companies never question 1080p/25fps, but instead are just pleased with it. I also live in the understanding (or is it a belief) that 1080i will disappear at some point so find 1080p more future proofed.

I would stick with 1080p formats.

That would generally get you square pixels and no interlace artifacts. Progressive frame formats can be slightly enlarged without very much quality loss.

Shooting with as much resolution, chroma subsampling, and bit rate you can will allow you to the most flexibility when it comes to post processing and delivery. The cost is file size, and to some extent computer resources (with i7 chips and plentiful memory this is almost a non-issue any more), and record time on camera (more memory cards). So stick with 1080 at least, 25p will probably work best (blu-ray, dvd, or TV). If you can 4:2:2 or better. Your bit rate of 100Mbps is good too.

If you end up delivering on DVD, you just toss a bunch of information out is all. No one will see that in the final product. But if you have to uprez for blu-ray, everyone will see it. Always better to have more data than you need IMHO.

If you are heading for delivery for projection, you might want to look into even higher resolution, like 2K or 4K (think RED cameras).

I seem to have made the right choices. I do 4:2:2 as well with the nanoflash. Thanks Bruce, Lauri and Dean for your input.