What's the difference between 59.94fps and 60fps?

E-mail bag recently included a message from a reader asking if there is a difference between 59.94 and 60 fields or frames per second. The reader has five HD cameras, all from a single major manufacturer, three of one model and two of another. One model specified a video output frequency of 59.94fps, while the other was specified at 60fps. The manufacturer told the reader that 59.94 and 60 are the same. Research and a number of interesting conversations with industry experts revealed information you may find surprising.

Some video editors might say that 59.94 is a drop-frame version of 60fps, and in some ways they may be correct, even though the time code itself can be drop-frame (DF) or non-drop-frame (NDF). Knowledgeable engineers know that 59.94 fields per second is a legacy of the NTSC color system, because prior to 1954, black-and-white video was locked to the 60Hz frequency of standard AC current in the United States. The 29.97Hz frame scan rate was designed to make color TV backward compatible with black-and-white TV when color was introduced. A frequency offset of 0.03Hz was introduced to make space in time for the color sub-carrier.

Today's broadcast video common denominator is SDI, either SD or HD. SMPTE 294M specifies SDI at a 29.97 frame rate and a 59.94 field rate for SD and 1080i or p. HDTV in the 1080i format, as fed to and rebroadcast by most NBC, CBS and PBS affiliates, is at 59.94 fields per second. The 720p format, as specified by SMPTE 296M and used by ABC, FOX and ESPN, has no fields. It delivers 59.94 progressive frames per second. Both 1080i and 720p mathematically match downconverted SD video.

There are many viewers still watching NTSC televisions by using ATSC converters for off-air reception, or using cable or satellite providers that still deliver standard NTSC signals. These viewers and rebroadcasters represent the lowest common denominator of the video world in the U.S., which remains NTSC. Therefore, everything broadcast over the air must be easily convertible to NTSC standards.

If a video or film camera shoots a true 24.00fps, its playback must be slowed by 0.1 percent (1/1000) to simulate the effect of changing the reference from 60Hz to 59.94Hz before or during the pulldown process. This reduces the pulldown speed to what is commonly referred to as 23.98fps, which if you happen to be following along with a calculator is actually 23.976fps. HD producers wanting the "film look" will shoot in 24p, which is typically 23.98fps, so no speed adjustment is necessary before adding telecine-style pulldown to create what is usually called 30fps video.

Eye Scan Readers - News


What's the difference between 59.94fps and 60fps?

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Eye Tracking Your Web Readers - Ruthan Brodsky

Eye-Tracking is the term used when your coaches and internet gurus and people like myself who give you tips on writing content for the internet. We want you to accept that we know what we are talking about. Our facts are based on the scientific and medical term called eye-tracking for which there are studies in science, medicine and business.

For example, when I recommend that you break your special report up into chapters and subchapters with headings and subheading s – that is based on eye-tracking. It’s not based on what I think looks good.

Eye-tracking is all about where your readers look first. The goal is to get them interested in what you have to say in 3 seconds then lead them, with your formatting and images and headlines, to the next piece of content. In other words to catch a reader’s eye it’s important to know where that eye is likely to look. It’s the eye-tracking studies that report on the most likely places.

Technology has enabled us to follow a reader’s eye movements as she scans a page. A gaze ma p is plotted based on where the person’s eyes are roaming, where they stop, and where they start up again. The experts in eye-tracking then take these glaze maps and arrive  at a general pattern to how visitors read a web site, or a blog, or your company’s website.

Here are the general patterns: •    If a reader stays on that page they pay attention to the top of the page more than they do the bottom.

The eye tracking studies say that people who stay on a page sweep horizontally from left to right. (I wonder if that’s indicative for those who read Hebrew which is read right to left or for those who read Mandarin which is read vertically. Anyone know?)

For those of us who do scan left to right the research shows we focus on this triangle of space starting in the upper left hand corner and where we go depends upon the layout.

One of the guidelines about writing for traffic that has changed thanks to eye tracking research is that not all your information should be given above the fold. Above the fold is the webpage’s initial viewable area before the reader needs to scroll down to get more information.

It’s true, the top half of the website gets about 80 percent of the attention but that means below the fold gets another 20 percent.


Eye Scan Readers - Bookshelf

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Theoretical and applied aspects of eye movement research, selected/edited proceedings of the Second European Conference on Eye Movements, Nottingham, England, 19-23 September, 1983

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