• Adobe Premiere Pro

  Advice for exporting: Interlaced or Progressive for projection from a laptop ?

  Posted by Geoffrey Shea on September 10, 2012 at 11:03 pm

  I’m sure variations of this question have been asked before, but I’m wading through answers and could use a little expertise.

  I’m editing in PP 5.5 (on a Mac) with 1080i footage from a Canon HV30. I’m planning to distribute to small film festivals. So I’d like to be able to send out preview disks of the best quality. They will probably be viewed on a desktop/laptop computer.

  For publis performance, more festivals are starting to use HD projectors running off laptops or Mac Minis.

  I’ve seen presentations where there was obvious interlace comb-tooth issues.

  Any suggestions for best export? H264? MPG2? Can I fit 30 minutes on a data dvd? (4.7 Gb)?

  Thanks!

  Geoffrey Shea replied 13 years, 10 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Chris Tompkins

  September 11, 2012 at 3:17 pm

  If you’re going to DVD or Bluray, I would leave it interlaced.
  Digital file for youtube/vimeo/screen playback, you’ll want to de-interlace the video.

  Alternatively instead of a Data Disc, why not post the video somewhere and send link?

  If festival folks are wading through a stack of DVD submissions, they’re probably kickin back on sofas or office chairs and watching a big TV fed by a DVD/bluray player and not crowding around a laptop, JMO.

  Chris Tompkins
  Video Atlanta LLC
• 

  Geoffrey Shea

  September 11, 2012 at 6:10 pm

  Thanks Chris.

  I had the impression some festivals were unhappy with the quality of DVD/Bluray for public presentations. And the video has one section with a flame in a fireplace that falls to pieces when interlaced and viewed on a computer.

  I’m just worried about my precious baby! 🙂
• 

  Geoffrey Shea

  September 12, 2012 at 5:57 pm

  One other opinion I’ve found:

  https://library.creativecow.net/articles/onneweer_barend/deinterlacing.php

  Here it is suggested that if you are targeting a projector (beamer) or computer screen, progressive is the way to go. That sounds about right for me.

  While interlaced seems slightly sharper, the risk of comb-toothing on a device that does not support on-the-fly de-interlacing seems too great. (I.e. I’ve seen some publicly projected videos that suffered tremendously from this.)

  My PS3 and 1080p TV do a great job of interpreting interlaced MPG2 files. So does my Mac when playing a DVD (although DVD has substantially lower quality). Ironically, QuickTime Player on my Mac (MBP/Lion) plays interlaced MPG2 files with no interpretation and looks lousy.

  Hopefully these notes may help the next person.

  Any further advice is very welcome!

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up