Industry Push For 1080 Progressive For 24 FPS Film Mastering

Sony, Snell & Wilcox, and Panasonic are among the companies introducing new digital mastering equipment that will allow post production facilities to produce a single master for standard-definition and high-definition while working in the native frame rate of film at 24 frames per second. The new 1080 line progressive 24 fps format to create one economical master for high-definition deliveries while preventing editing problems when 3:2 pulldown is introduced. The mastering system, which is being called ""24p,"" records 1920x1080 images at 24 fps, and can be used to deliver dub masters of any programming in NTSC standard-definition formats or any one of the 18 recognized digital formats, including HDTV. For example, a 1080p master of a program created for ABCís ""Wonderful World Of Disney"" could be redubbed for 720p broadcast on demand, without requiring retransferring the cut negative, reconstructiing the show or retransfering the film.The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), who sets industry standards, is reported to be seriously considering the proposed mastering format and is working on a set of recommended practices that would lay out design requiements for equipment by NAB ë99, the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, April 19-22, 1999.