Determining field order

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Tom,
Is not a problem of FC or Compressor, but from QT.
FC and Compressor can only guess.
the best way to be sure about the field order of any clip is to watch it in an interlaced monitor.
Other solution is to use an application that can step field by field, like AE, Shake or Combustion.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Tom Bell]

Thanks Rafael,
I thought it was more to do with QT as I know these apps are QT based!
I was trying to get around having to open up some heavy loading apps to find this info out!
MPEG Streamclip seems to give me some fair info for a file, but its a little ambiguous!
Surely someone somewhere musty have made a little app that can do this!!

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Tom,
MPGStreamclip will give you the correct field order when you have an MPEG file.
It seems that this format it have a proper system to identify the field order in any file.
This is why FC have no problem identifying XDCAM footage for example.
But FC or MPGStreamlip may misidentify the clip once converted to ProRess.
QT files don’t have a proper Field-order Flag.
I thought this was depending of the codecs, but no.
FC just can identify the footage according with certain “fixed ideas”.
ie. DV NTSC will shows up always as Lower-first, even if you had deinterlaced it.
Animation will shos up as Lower in NTSC and Upper in PAL, etc.
You ned always to double check the FC Browser or the “Interpret Footage” in AE to avoid headaches.
raafel

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Paulo Jan]

720×486, 720×480 has lower-field first interlacing.

That would be if it’s DV, but not necessarily if it’s some other kind of SD format. For example, I thought that Betacam was always upper-field first?

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Dave LaRonde] “I don’t know about exotica like SECAM. “

In a digital world, SECAM follows PAL rules.

[Tom Bell]

I only wish it were that simple Dave!!

I have received a digi beta before now, which I would expect to be upper first as is usual (in the UK at least) but the editor has been working with a multitude of files from various sources and even if I encode the whole lot as upper first (to mpeg2 for dvd use) some of the edited clips come out as juddery on a tv suggesting those clips are lower first!!

So for me, I cant just rely on the set of rules you state. As you say, DV is always lower first and Digi Beta is usually upper first… but when it comes to a drive full of files from various sources, I need a solid, quick and easy way to know the exact spec of each file! Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be anything that fits my requirement!

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Rafael Amador] “The signal is converted to SECAM in the moment of broadcasting. “

Correct!

[Rafael Amador]

[Jeremy Garchow] “In a digital world, SECAM follows PAL rules”
i guess that in the digital world SECAM have no much sense.
SECAM is an “no editable” format because the two colors components are not transmitted at the same time (Sequential Color).
The SECAM people have been shooting and editing in PAL.
The signal is converted to SECAM in the moment of broadcasting.
The format improve the transmission in places with hard meteorological conditions (ie Russia).
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Rafael Amador] “The signal is converted to SECAM in the moment of broadcasting. “

Correct!

[Jeremy Garchow]

I think Dave set it up for you nicely. You have a timeline that has a field order. you then need to make sure that all format will play correctly by watching them on a monitor. If one of the clips look wrong, then you apply a shift fields filter. Of course, the easiest way is to do this before you add clips to the timeline.

Jeremy