With a global economy and the multi-channel universe already here and digital TV on the way, demand for new programming has never been so high. To meet this demand, a massive amount of film must be converted to video for broadcasting. This makes it critical that a system be developed capable of producing high-quality PAL and NTSC masters without the high costs or degradation in quality caused by standards conversion. In cooperation with the Fox Broadcasting Network and QuadOne, JVC is now developing a 25/24 frame switchable VTR as part of a system to post TV broadcasting content originally shot with film using video.

When developing this system, we focused on the fact that the PAL system's 25 frames per second is very close to the 24 fps rate used in film. By using a switchable 24/25 fps D-9 576P VTR for recording, high-quality PAL and NTSC edited video masters can be produced with none of the 3:2 pulldown artifacts, picture jitter, or loss of resolution found in current systems.

Comparison with current systems

Unlike current systems, JVC's new D-9 based system does not use 3:2 pulldown for telecine conversion and transfers film to a high-quality 25-frame D-9 VTR. After post is complete, the high resolution PAL master is played back at 24 fps and 3:2 is added for conversion to a high-quality NTSC master. Thus, high-resolution PAL masters without 3:2 artifacts and high-quality NTSC masters without picture jitter can be obtained. Just as important, it is not expensive as post can be realized using standard NLE systems. This system does not require dedicated expensive film NLE