[Ken Pugh]

Interesting stuff – If Casey feels his footage looks strobey on his CRT tube monitor – but it looks fine on Michaels monitor, then assuming there is not a totally different aesthetic at work here – then it must come down to the monitor, no? CRT screens cannot playback progressive frames, instead they repeat them to get 50i, hence the strobe effect because the image is jumping backwards and forwards. However a good flat screen broadcast monitor, which I suspect Michael has, will play both, switching as necessary. This is my conclusion. However it follows that DSLR footage and progressive video will only look good on a screen capable of playing progressive, which most of the world don’t have.

Personally I think the only thing to do is to correctly interlace the progressive footage prior to delivering for broadcast, or screening on a CRT monitor, as indeed Hollywood movies were prior to recording to VHS (which was also a interlace only format).

There is a great way to do this outlined on this forum in the link copied below – but you wouldn’t want to do this to the rushes. So for me I think the solution is buying a progressive capable monitor for editing, and keep the broadcast standard interlace only CRT for viewing the final interlaced master – so one can check the CRT viewers get a correctly interlaced final product.

https://magazine.creativecow.net/article/interlacing-progressive-footage

Having said all that I do accept Michael’s point – I’ve discovered that some digital broadcasters do transmit progressive video – so in this case the domestic receiver must correctly handle the interlacing process – just like the process Michael was describing with some DVD players. So I don’t think I’ve quite got to the bottom of this yet! Otherwise all those Paul Greengrass films would be totally unwatchable on my domestic CRT…

Thanks for all the feedback,

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

Although here in Europe most shooting and post production is done HD, there are comparatively few HD channels, most of the audience watches SD and on CRT monitors, and in post production suites CRT monitors are still considered the reference by which others are judged – and this is my stumbling point, progressive video may look great on a progressive LCD screen, but it doesn’t on an interlaced CRT, which I understand is what most people still watch, and most facilities still use for reference. I certainly do – but maybe I need to change?

Best,

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

Sadly the file only plays in the preview window in the finder (after selecting ‘get info’) it doesn’t play, and wont open in QT, FCP, AE or Episode….

What I don’t understand is how the finder ‘get info’ window can play the file, while all the above programmes cannot.

Best,

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

If quality is not absolutely paramount – try DVDxDV and transcode to a DV file, small download and quite cheap!

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

Hmm yes that would be handy…

Looks like I’ve narrowed part of the problem down to a conflict with either the AJA Kona card or the second monitor screen – unplugging both has at least enabled me to boot into a working system. Startup is still taking far longer than it should though. Like around 5 minutes.

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

Ah yes, all comes back to me like a terrible dream….

But yes, thanks, just what I needed.

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

Yes I use the Graham Nattress ‘Earthquake’ filter and transition.

I think its great – and free too!

https://www.nattress.com/Free/freeFCP.htm

Best,

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

Thanks,

I’ve been using the ‘scale clip’ function but it does not always seem to work – I have some AE renders for example that fail to scale correctly. Other times I’m just paranoid – and stare at the clips thinking – is he too fat? Too thin? Hmm maybe they just lost weight since I last filmed them…

Cheers,

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

To confirm – yes this fix does work – many thanks to the Boris team for sorting this out – all the best,

Ken.

[Ken Pugh]

I’ve emailed you a screen grab and a movie,

Thanks,

Ken.