Deinterlacing - Old Topic, More Questions

Ok Folks,

I am somewhat confused..still...by the whole deal with deinterlacing. As you know, I am a still emerging final cut pro user.

When editing in either HDV1080i or AIC1080i in my timeline, i then export the timeline using the same settings (1080i). I choose field dominance as "none" and export (btw, what is the relevance or upper or lower?).

1. If I apply the "deinterlace" filter to all clips - the resulting file is 1080p on export?

2. If I do not apply the "deinterlace" filter - the resulting file is what?

3. If I apply the "deinterlace" filter to just some clips - the resulting file is 1080p and i?

Should I just export a clean 1080i file then use another Mac program to deinterlace (what program...compressor?)?

Thanks for the help.

shawn

Hey folks,

Any takers on this one...seems like I can't find anyone with a clear answer.

shawn

Shawn, if you are going back to your camera I would leave it as 1080i.

The SONY HDV PAL/NTSC cameras shoots 1080i upper fileds so you should output upper. PAL DV use lower and NTSC DV use upper first.

If I was making HD wmv or normal DVD's I would go progressive.

Wags, that is very helpful.

I am building HD QTs and WMVs, as well as DVDs. I have been exporting 720p from my timeline currently (HDV720p). My confusion is around using deinterlacing filters in the timeline then exporting as a 1080"i" file. Wondering if my file is then truly 1080p. If so, that should be good for computer hd playback, but not a standard for tv playback.

Would you try to create 1080p files for wmv hd playback and then convet to mpeg for DVDs? Or would you go 720P and convert. For some reason this confuses me.

Also remember that not all deinterlacing filters are of equal quality. Some, like that in FCP, use an algorithm that centers on all pixels and fields while the better filters like that produced by Digital Anarchy and Magic Bullet use algorithms that focus primarily upon the moving pixels which will do a better job for you.

Steve B)

HDV 720p? Do you mean HD 1280/720p or DV 720/480 NTSC progressive.

If you want the files to go back to the camera I would go 1080i m2t then run that file through your encoder and make your 720p Mpeg2 if you can.

If you encode out HD wmv 1080p they are very hard for computers to play so I would make it 1280/720p therefore making it more playable across the board and beside it will still look very good. Only HD screens can play that res so they will be able to handle progressive. If you put the DVD disk in a player that can play HD wmv hooked up to a normal 720 res TV then the player would down sample it I suppose to 720/480 res etc and the DVD player would kind of interlace the progressive signal.

If you made the 1280/720p wmv files then made the 720p mpeg2 files for a DVD from them, would be oka.

From the DVD's I have made, encoding out a 720p mpeg 2 file looks not only better on a progressive screen but even on my old interlace TV.

I'm on a PC so I don't have to add a deinerlacer filter then encde out as I can do it in one go as it encodes out from the timeline.

That is what I am looking for guys...thanks. My current workflow has been to export a 1280/720p file from my timeline (my timline is hdv1080i) I use that file to run on my Mac and plug into my hd tv. I then drop the file into Compressor and encode as mpeg2 720/480 for SD DVD production.

Steve, when I export an HDV720P (1280/720) file from my timeline, I have NOT been applying a deinterlacing filter to individual clips. My assumption has been that it is deinterlacing on export. Am I missing something? Also, are those plugins available for FCP?

I could be wrong here but I don't believe your sequence will deinterlace on export automatically. You should deinterlace first. While it would be a pain to deinterlace and render each clip seperately, the better workflow would be to nest your sequence and deinterlace that before exporting. Digital Anarchies 'Resizer' which I reviewed on the www.kenstone.net Final Cut Pro editing site comes with a high quality deinterlacer and it is pretty cheap to boot. It was easy to use and of significantly higher quality than FCP's own.

Steve B)

Steve,

If it's that good, I think i should give it a try. I like the zoom improvements as well.

Question: do these appear as effects in my effects library?

Yes, they will be under your filters, listed as Digital Anarchy

Steve B)

Thought I'd put my money where my mouth is . I just finished my last for life, SD sequence. Just for the fun of it I nested it and applied the deinterlace filter from Digital Anarchy with Best settings to the whole thing which comes in at a bit more than 6 minutes. Granted, there are a lot of overlays and greenscreen chroma work on this sequence but FCP gave me an initial render time of 36 hours. After about 2 hours 3% had rendered and thats where I stopped it. Editing demands much patience.

Steve B)