During MPC capture, video is deinterlaced, but output file is interlaced

[PDub]

I have the Sapphire Radeon X800 XT PE wiht the ATI Rage Theater chip. I am attempting to capture footage from my xbox 360. I recently had a problem encoding in MPC with ffdshow enabled, but I fixed it by disabling "queue output samples" in ffdshow. I wanted to use ffdshow so I could take advantage of the "kernel bob" deinterlacer as it completely smooths out the video. The default "deinterlacer" that is loaded during the capture still shows combing artefacts so I use ffdshow to get rid of them.

Here's the problem. When I am watching the video I am capturing, it looks completely deinterlaced, but when I check the output file, it has interlacing artefacts. I like to record complete gaming sessions sometimes, so I encode to xvid to keep the filesize down. Having these artefacts isn't something I want on a these videos. I can deinterlace during playback, but I would rather not have to.

I use S-video. I've tried UYVY, YUY2, different video encoders from both (VFW) and (DS), I've tried changing renderers, even disabling ffdshow, but the resulting AVI always ends up with interlaced frames.

I'm using the MPC Homecinema v. 1.0.11.4

Is there any way to disable that "deinterlacer" filter that is loaded when I open my capture device? Does anybody have any ideas why the AVI file ends up interlaced even though it looks deinterlaced while I am playing/capturing live?

[Southstorm]

If I'm not mistaken, you can't get progressive input thru an S-Video cable. Only thru VGA, DVI, Component, HDMI.

[PDub]

That's true. However, if I am applying deinterlacing filters during capture, the resulting capture should not have interlacing artefacts, correct? I'm just trying to get rid of the artefacts without re-encoding the resulting capture.

For instance, if I capture with Virtualdub and use deinterlacing filters, the resulting AVI file does not contain those artefacts. However, I don't use virtualdub to play the games and record at the same time because it's too choppy.

I have windvr which deinterlaces the video and encodes to mpeg files, but there is alot of ghosting going on and while capturing the preview resolution is really low which is a turn off. When using mpc, there is very little ghosting. I'm just wondering why a deinterlaced capture that looks like it has been properly deinterlaced during the capture can end up with interlacing artefacts in the resulting AVI file.

[fibbingbear]

I capture gamecube footage using an s-video cable off of a theater 650 pro card. From what you describe, it sounds like you've got a (hidden) de-interlacer setup for playback, but not for saving the video. Try using a different capture program, like VirtualVCR, and see if you have the same problem.

There's also the possibility that something weird is going on while simultaneously recording and watching, but that sounds unlikely.
The ATI control panel will allow you to change some combing filters on it, but I'd seriously doubt that's the reason why you're seeing the difference.

However, I am confused by your statements. They seem contradictory. Your question asks for ways to disable the deinterlacer when saving the video, but you're also stating that video is interlaced, so there is no deinterlacer running on it. I am a bit confused and I may not understand your setup.

If the video is interlaced, before you convert it to xvid, you can use Avisynth to run a de-interlacer on it at conversion time. That'll solve the problem --- even though you don't want to re-encode, it's probably the best method.

[PDub]

Let me clear any confusion.

I use mpc to view and capture footage from the xbox 360.

One of the filters when viewing the capture is called "Deinterlacer", but I still see some interlacing artefacts while viewing and capturing.

I enabled ffdshow to decode raw video so I can use it's deinterlacing options to get rid of the left over interlacing that I see. Once this is done, the footage "looks" like it is progressive, as in it no longer displays interlacing artefacts.

When I record footage (through any encoder I have tried), the display continues to "look" like it is progressive with no interlacing artefacts. I like to encode directly to xvid to keep the filesize low.

When I view the AVI file after I am done capturing, it displays interlacing artefacts during playback, and it is definitely in the file and not caused by filters because I have checked it in virtualdub.

FYI, I have a friend who has used the same setup, but he has a standalone capture card not an integrated video-in like me, and his output files do not display the interlacing.

I haven't found any settings on the ATI control panel that have anything to do with video-in.

[fibbingbear]

Hey PDub. Thanks for the explanation. I think I see where you're coming from.

So I don't use MPC, but I have used VLC, and I know that sometimes it'll apply filters *just for displaying* but will *not use those filters when saving video*.

My question is: after you've saved the video (let's call this file video.avi), you mention you can look at it in VirtualDUB and see the interlaced artifacts. If you watch video.avi in MPC, are the artifacts still there? I'm trying to figure out if FFDShow is doing something just for playback.

[PDub]

I think you are right fibbingbear. I ran some tests and came up with two possibilities as to why the output file has interlacing artefacts.

1. FFdshow is ignored during capture, but used for the preview.
2. Since I am using the "kernel bob" deinterlacer in ffdshow which doubles the framerate to 59.94 and I am capturing at 29.97, then two of those frames are being combined into one, resulting in interlaced artefacts. Although if this were true, then it should just be frames with ghosting if it were properly interlaced, correct? I believe no 1 is the correct answer because even using after linear blending as the deinterlacing method the resulting file would still have interlaced artefacts.

Either way, I fixed my problem by using "image processing" in the ffdshow encoder which allows me to apply those ffdshow post processing filters to the encoded video. I had to use TomsMoComp deinterlacer because the kernel bob filter would cause the encoder to try and encode a 59.94 fps file which my cpu can't keep up with. The resulting file looks great and has no ghosting.

Thanks for your help.

[fibbingbear]

Hey PDub. I have not used kernel bob, but I think you're right that the answer is #1. Good luck and glad I could help.