FCP7 + MPEG Streamclip: to check or not to unchek Interlaced Scaling box

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

FCP7 + MPEG Streamclip: to check or not to unchek Interlaced Scaling box

Posted by Manu Cataldi on May 22, 2015 at 10:27 pm

Hello everyone, first time signed up, not a native English speaker, so let me know if you don’t understand something by how it’s written.

Here we go.
I’ve been around the site learning a lot about the right workflow to use, I’m currently starting to edit a project I’ve directed and I want to be very accurate on getting the best image results.

After reading a lot of threads, I finally decided to do the H264 to ProRes 442 convertion to work in FCP7.

Source footage is 1920×1080 H264 25 fps .mov file (we used a Canon T2i)
I’m starting the convertion to ProRes 442, and as far as I’ve read, the only settings I should change is the Interlaced Scaling box.

Now, I’ve tried both cheked and uncheked and I can’t tell the difference.
I know by reading that the MPEG Streamclip quality slider doesn’t apply to ProRes codecs.

I would like to know the technical aspects of Interlaced Scaling and when it does affect the footage, and what settings works best with my source material.

Hope you can help me, thanks in advance!

Eric Rosenfeld replied 10 years, 11 months ago 4 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

David Roth weiss
May 23, 2015 at 4:10 pm

Export both ways and compare them…

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.
Michael Gissing
May 25, 2015 at 3:55 am

What camera did you use? If it was shot interlaced then convert as interlaced.

I suspect it is not interlaced if you can’t see any difference. If shot with a DSLR then it is not interlaced and don’t convert it as interlaced.
Manu Cataldi
May 25, 2015 at 2:09 pm

[Michael Gissing] “What camera did you use? If it was shot interlaced then convert as interlaced. “

We used a Canon EOS 550D and footage is 1920×1080 H264 25 fps .mov file
Michael Gissing
May 25, 2015 at 10:36 pm

OK your footage is progressive not interlaced so uncheck the interlaced box.
Eric Rosenfeld
May 26, 2015 at 12:59 am

I’m having a similar issue. I used MPEG Streamclip to convert footage shot on a Samsung Galaxy S3 and also on a GoPro. I converted it to ProRes 422 LT, and I set fps to 30 and checked “interlaced scaling”. After importing it to a sequence in FCP 7, it plays back with skipping frames, even after rendering. Would the interlacing probably be the issue? Or might it be due to how I set the frame rate?
Michael Gissing
May 26, 2015 at 5:55 am

Sounds more like a frame rate mismatch. Interlacing might give some jagged edging when watched on a computer screen but not what you describe.

Check the original camera frame rate, the rate you chose (exactly like 30 vs 29.97) and the sequence rate. Finally it pays to make sure your Easy Setup matches particularly if you are going out via a card like Kona or Decklink to a monitor.
Eric Rosenfeld
May 26, 2015 at 7:40 am

Thanks. Well since writing that comment, I’ve discovered that the frame skipping only occurs in playback from the sequence after rendering has been done. If I play the clip in the viewer pane, directly from the list of imported files (without dragging it to the sequence first and rendering it), it looks fine.

So something’s wrong in the sequence settings? The thing is, the sequence settings seem to be the same as my settings for the clip (422 LT with 30 fps and 1080).

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