MeGUI: how to preserve video format while transcoding

[florinandrei]

I've a VC-1 video in an M2TS container that I want to transcode with x264, this is what eac3to reports about it:

M2TS, 1 video track, (...), 0:42:46, 60i /1.001
(...)
2: VC-1, 1080i60 /1.001 (16:9)

I couldn't get MeGUI to read M2TS directly, but that's ok, I extracted the video track with eac3to and wrapped it in a MKV container. Then I opened the file in MeGUI.

I clicked the analysis button, and this is what MeGUI detected and suggested:

Source type: M-in-5 decimation required
M: 2
Field order: [blank]
Deinterlace: Tritical Decimate

But here's the thing - I don't want to do that. The end result always looks worse than the original, especially when there's a lot of motion - the fluidity is lost. If the original is interlaced or whatever, I want to keep it like that and let the HD player deal with it.

So I forced "Source type: Interlaced". But when I looked at the x264 options, I didn't see any changes. Shouldn't MeGUI treat progressive and interlaced videos differently when they are sent for encoding?

In general, what are the recommended settings if I want to transcode a video like this while keeping its format unchanged? (no decimation, etc.)

[Inspector.Gadget]

Post a sample. I would be very surprised if a Blu-ray encoded at 60i required (only) decimating 2 out of every 5 frames, as that doesn't reflect either true 60i or hard telecined original 24p.

[florinandrei]

What if it's a mix of interlaced and progressive? (don't have access right now to the file, but I'll get to it later)

[Inspector.Gadget]

Decimation solves repeated frames; a mix of interlaced and progressive wouldn't ordinarily give rise to a need for it.