HDV 1080i60 or 1080p30?

Question

I'm considering changing my HDV project to use 1080P30 instead of 1080i60 which I use now. I don't need the "film" look, so I don't need 24p, especially given the interesting ways it seems to get packaged into HDV tapes.
I use a Sony HVR-V1U camera; projects don't include sports, but almost always stage productions (no special effects other than rather poor lighting: there is never a special performance just for taping); the eventual target is NTSC standard definition DVD; BluRay is a ways off yet.
So, from the experts who do this for a living (I do not: it's a gift to the theater department), what are the pros and cons, especially in the areas of image sharpness, imperfect lighting conditions, motion (mostly slowish pans and zooms, and actor movement), editing complications?
I am most appreciative for any comments and suggestions.
Eddie O

Answer 1

Just to close and follow up (using FCS 2: FCP 6.0.3, DVD SP4.2.1, Compressor 3.0.3)
I did some pretty extensive testing of the Sony HVR-V1U shooting 1080p30 with the type of play I'll be using it on: actual lighting, sound, etc. (dress rehearsal). I shot about an hours worth of tape in various stage lighting conditions; wide establishing shots, medium close ups, and tight close ups.
The results are great. I captured to ProRes 422 and used the AV settings under preferences to set interlace OFF. The ProRes files are progressive. The capture was via firewire directly to ProRes 422 (it works like a capture now) and on my G5 Quad to a FW 800 7200RPM drive (OWC Mercury Pro 1TB), it occurred in real time. Each camera start/stop resulted in a new clip, and when the tape was out near the end (55 minutes), nothing bad happened and I hit escape. One a shorter test clip earlier, if I let the tape just run out, it just puts a dialog up and nothing is lost. There were NO dropped frames.
I put all the clips (10 of them) into a FCP ProRes 1080p30 time line (the default when FCP preferences are set to capture that way), just did a few "cuts," then rendered: no rendering required, time line entries were all dark gray. I then exported to a reference file using the sequence setting and got a small file quickly that when shown in Quicktime confirmed it was all still 1080p30. There was a chapter marker at each clip for testing.
I put that file into Compressor with no filters, no frame controls, set to standard definition, 4.5 average, 7.5 max., audio to AC3 stereo. It compressed in about real time.
It took those files into DVD SP4, created one menu item with 30 seconds of the video as it's background asset, and all that menu did was to start the video.
I burned a DVD image to my hard drive: it worked fine on the computer; I burned that image to a DVD-R (Discmakers Ultra 16x printable silver which turns out to be Taiyo Yuden) at 4x on a Primera Bravo II (Plexstor 716A). The DVD played well in Samsung, LG (DVD-R(W)/VHS combo), Denon 2900, and Playstation 3 DVD Players to a 17" Sharp LCD (set to accept 480p from the player), a Pioneer Plasma 505 (received 480i composit from the LG and upscales to 1280x768 progressive) and a Meridian (JVC internals) 1080p60 projector through a Faroudja scaler from Denon 480i YUV component.
They all worked flawlessly, and the quality was very good. I especially don't miss interlacing jaggies during fast movement; I prefer the blur instead: looks more like film. SInce my shutter speed was fairly slow 1/30 or 1/60, depending on how much light, there was no "judder." With higher speed shutters, you would get more judder, and if the f-stop was also pretty high (this camera goes to F11), you'd have a deep depth of field. As in most theater applications, lighting was not abundant for video work, so the f-stop was pretty low, and the shutter speed slow as indicated. But with the 1/30 shutter available, the cameras gain was kept respectfully low (never greater than 6dB except during blackouts between scenes), and only 6dB when a lone actor was standing against a black back drop and I was on a wide shot. (Note: I used the "spot light" automatic setting to avoid blowing out face highlights: it works well.)
I hope this helps those considering 1080p30.
Eddie O
Message was edited by: Edward A. Oates