proper course of action for WW1 Documentary

[pfk505]

hey guys

I have a R1 DVD Documentary that I want to convert to xvid. It would have originally aired in the UK, so im assuming it was created for TV at 25fps. However, its an NTSC dvd, so the source is 29.976fps. DGIndex shows the source as 0.01% Film, and when I scan through scenes with movement, every frame is interlaced. I converted to xvid at 29.976 using field deinterlace, and the quality is fine, however, i want to know if this is the best that can be done. Should I be IVTC'ing and then converting to 25fps and then reencoding the audio to match? I dont want to be "wasting" any video bitrate :)

Any help would be appreciated

edit: I also tried a regular IVTC at first, with choppy results (as you would expect)

[drcl]

its truly interlaced - a telecined/ hard pulldown would have a higher film %.

You probably with a lot of blended fields.

Personally i would not de-interlace but encode it as interlaced then playback with an FFDshow bob, or with a hardware player

[pfk505]

It actually looks great encoded de-interlaced. The Doc is mostly stills mixed with black & white footage, so i am not noticing much, if any, blurring. My question is more to do with the framerate, and how to make the output file as good as possible regardless of the method of playback.

[writersblock29]

@pfk505

I'm just currious, but if the encoded stream "looks great" the way you have it... why isn't it good enough? You may, perhaps, be able to free up some bitrate and squeeze just a bit more quality in there -- but we're talking mathmatical quality, which would take a computer to notice. You on the other hand may not. I'm not meaning to offend or ridicule you; it just doesn't make sense to me to continue fiddling with an encode that you already seem happy with.

[setarip_old]

@pfk505

Hi!

You might want to try using MPEGMediator...

[pfk505]

I'm just currious, but if the encoded stream "looks great" the way you have it... why isn't it good enough?

dont get me wrong, it is good enough... i just wanted an expert opinion as to how it should be best done. its not about squeezing the best amount of quality or whatever, its mainly for the benefit of my knowledge [or lack thereof] on the subject :)

[writersblock29]

@pfk505

I see. I certainly can't fault you for wanting to master a method you find useful; I was certainly that way when I first started making DVD9 to DVD5 backups using CCE... come to think about it, I still am that way! Not that I was a stranger to encoding with CCE (I use it to encode DV material that's going to go on DVD, since I do plenty of professional videography) -- but I'd normally only put what would comfortably fit on a disk with a generous bitrate and leave it at that. World of difference working with bloated studio DVDs, trying to push that comfort level without noticable sacrifice. So I guess I get where you're coming from. ;)

I personally deinterlace whenever it's feasible, since I've found the reduction of resolution tends to make for a more bitrate-friendly source, and leaves me with a pleasant image afterward. Many others (okay, most readers and posters here) will tell you not to -- and for the sake of keeping as much detail as possible, they're absolutely right. With so many opinions floating around, it really comes down to what pleases your eye; otherwise, we have a "what's best?" thread, which never seem to conclude with anything useful -- unless you like reading the many forms of personal attacks that tend to arrise with a community that can't agree on one course of action! Good luck to you, and have lots of fun. :)

[pfk505]

Well like I said, theres not that much detail to start with. Its not an action movie.. there might only be 9 or 10 brief scenes with movement in the entire documentary! So I guess I'm happy with that I've got here, was just curious about whether i could somehow get it to 25fps properly, but in all honesty youre right, its not worth it.

[neuron2]

a telecined/ hard pulldown would have a higher film %. No, hard pulldown does not contribute to film % at all. Only RFF flags (soft pulldown) in the 3:2 pattern contribute. (DGIndex does not do any field matching.)

@pfk505

It's quite reasonable to seek to apply the best processing according to ones own preferences. To do that you have to be sure of the nature of your input video. And that is still uncertain thus far. To proceed, you should host a small unprocessed sample of your source material containing high motion sections. Then we can start considering how to process your material, with all the pertinent facts in view.

[pfk505]

To proceed, you should host a small unprocessed sample of your source material containing high motion sections

like part of the .vob ? how should i go about doing that?

as i said before, i did examine the frames, and they are all interlaced

[drcl]

No, hard pulldown does not contribute to film % at all. Only RFF flags (soft pulldown) in the 3:2 pattern contribute. (DGIndex does not do any field matching.)


not that i need to say so, but of course you are correct. Not sure why i said that at all. I'm sure I must have meant to say soft.

[setarip_old]

@pfk505

Once again, I'd suggest that as an experiment, you try MPEGMediator, as both its built in deinterlacing capability and ability to deal with framerate conversion are excellent ;>}

[manono]

Hi-

like part of the .vob ? how should i go about doing that?

Open a Vob in DGIndex. Scroll to a place with movement. Use the "[" and "]" buttons to isolate the section you want. 10-15 seconds of the right section (with movement/motion) will do nicely. Then File->Save Project and Demux Video. Take the M2V you'll be given and upload it and post the link here.

If you're not sure where to upload, then this place is good and free:

http://rapidshare.de/