Take Film of a Television Screen

[PeteHappens]

What's the best way to take shots of a television screen with
a simple camcorder, without the horizontal lines cascading down?

Thanks,
Pete.

 

[Matuso]

My digital camera (a model I'm going to assume yours is similar to) lets me choose the frame rate from a small selection. Dropping the frame rate, I believe, to just below the television's, gets rid of the cascading, but then the image may be somewhat choppy. If you go higher, that may work, depending on the camera frame rate to TV frame rate ratio.

Granted, I have no idea what I'm talking about, but it might work.

 

[MarkG]

Set the frame rate to 1/60 (for NTSC), but you'll still get tearing if you move the camera.

The other option is to replace the TV screen in post: that's what I ended up doing on the short I shot a while back, though that was because of reflections on the screen rather than flickery pictures.

 

[element80]

if you can replace it in post, that'll probably be your best bet, becuase not only do you have to worry about scan lines, but you'll probably also get moire patterns on the screen as well, depending on who tight you are on it (if it's just something in the BG that won't really even be in focus, then don't worry about the moire, but if you're filling the frame with the screen and focusing on it, it will most likely be a problem).