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progressive / interlaced etc – best workflow for HDV material?
Hello everyone,
I am editing a film shot on HDV 1080i, which contains quite a lot of graphics in the form of tifs/ jpegs animated using Final Cut Pro. I noticed when I compressed for DVD (using Compressor) that the resulting picture seemed to have interlacing artefacts – ie, a ‘double vision’ effect, visible on both the graphics and the film footage.
I found that by resetting the sequence settings to “Progressive” (it had been set to Upper First originally, as that is what FCP prompted when I first edited the footage into the timeline) and re-rendering everything, this eliminated the “double vision” effect.
However, now I am convinced that a lot of the motion of the film footage has an ugly flicker about it when viewed on a TV… is this because I have set the sequence to Progressive? Can anyone advise the optimum workflow/ settings to ensure a smooth, filmic look to the footage?
Sorry for the long post… would be grateful for any thoughts!
Thanks
Dan.
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8 Replies
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[Dan Haythorn] “I found that by resetting the sequence settings to “Progressive” (it had been set to Upper First originally, as that is what FCP prompted when I first edited the footage into the timeline) and re-rendering everything, this eliminated the “double vision” effect.”
It just seems like you made an improvement, because you cut the resolution of your video in half. Your project is indeed upper field first, and should remain interlaced.
How are you monitoring? If you are evaluating your interlaced video on a computer monitor, especially a good one, you will see horrible interlacing, but that all goes away when viewing on a TV or video monitor.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Hello – and cheers for your prompt response!
I had a hunch that setting to progressive wasn’t the most natural solution…
I am monitoring it on a good computer monitor (that is where I saw the horrible interlacing) but testing by burning to DVD and playing on a TV (not the most efficient of setups, and it’s due to improve soon – but not soon enough for this current project!)
I guess I wanted to achieve a picture that looked nice on a computer monitor AND the tv. However, if – as it seems your suggesting – I put up with horrible interlacing on a computer monitor, and in so doing get a smoother picture on a TV, I would gladly do that, as this film will most likely be viewed on TVs more often.
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[Dan Haythorn] “I am monitoring it on a good computer monitor (that is where I saw the horrible interlacing) but testing by burning to DVD and playing on a TV (not the most efficient of setups, and it’s due to improve soon – but not soon enough for this current project!)”
So you’re watching your video playback in the FCP Canvas? No external monitoring whatsoever? If so, you need an external playback monitor in order to properly view your media when editing in FCP. The FCP Canvas is always a degraded image.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Dan,
You can certainly deinterlace for the Web using Compressor, which does a very respectable job. But, there isn’t a single file, either interlaced or deinterlaced, that’s perfect for both TV (DVD) and the Web. Different displays have different needs and putting your best foot forward means optimizing your video for every different situation.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Darn… and there was me thinking there’d be some magic shortcut!
Thank you anyhow. If I have to choose, the priority is undoubtedly getting the best possible picture of DVD (TV). Given that I would like to acheive a smooth / filmic motion on the moving footage, what is the simplest workflow for that? I am guessing – from previous experience – that it is best to start with Sequence Settings at “Upper Field First” and then apply a de-interlace filter to the footage… or perhaps there is a much simpler way of doing it?
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[Dan Haythorn] “Darn… and there was me thinking there’d be some magic shortcut!”
Doesn’t exist yet… Interlacing solve some issues and creates others. Someday soon it will be completely gone, but until then yu have to learn to deal with it.
[Dan Haythorn] “If I have to choose, the priority is undoubtedly getting the best possible picture of DVD (TV). Given that I would like to acheive a smooth / filmic motion on the moving footage, what is the simplest workflow for that?”
Just keep it interlaced. For a DVD output a QT movie at current settings, bring that into Compressor and encode using one of the “Best DVD” presets, and author with that in DVDSP.
For the Web that same QT you exported from FCP at current settings and deinterlace using the “frame controls.” Don’t use the deinterlace filter in Compressor, it’s been called an archaic throwback from the stone age. I agree…
Oh, and, don’t ever use the deinterlace filter in FCP either. It’s not even a throwback, it just not very good.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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I had no idea that the different methods of interlacing produced results of differing quality! I just kind of assumed that they’d all do the same thing…
Anyway, thank you very much for all your advice. One final question: by “Just keep it interlaced”, do you essentially mean I leave it as it is, with sequence set to Upper Field First?
Dan.
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[Dan Haythorn] “by “Just keep it interlaced”, do you essentially mean I leave it as it is, with sequence set to Upper Field First?”
HDV, like all HD video, is upper field first. When encoding to MPEG2 using a preset for a SD DVD, Compressor will automatically change the field order for you to lower first.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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