Creating Videos: Which Framerate is common in the US?

Question

I know that there are differences in different regions of the world regarding the framerate of videos. E.g. a DVD in Europe is in PAL with 720x756 and 25.0 fps. In the US its the NTSC standard with 720x480 and 29.97 fps. When I don't want to generate a DVD but a plain video file, e.g. WMV oder AVI what framerate is used in USA? I have a end user application where the user can generate videos, so what framerate does the US user expect it to have? Is there a difference in SD and HD video?

Answer 1

I think 24 frames per second is the de facto frame rate, just because this is the frame rate used in movie theaters, although it shouldn't make a huge difference.

Answer 2

Compared to a film projector or old analog TV, modern computer monitors aren't so dependent on a single fixed frame rate. Typically, they can handle anything up to 60 or 75Hz, although slower computers may have problems decompressing the video data at that rate. It's rare to see video files that are faster than 30fps, and 24fps is often used to get the classic "cinematic" feel.

If you're using footage from a camera, the most important thing is to match the frame rate of the original video. Converting to a different rate doesn't buy you anything, and requires hacks (like "telecine") that typically produce a noticeable loss in quality.