CCE versus ProCoder for non-DV interlaced material?

[Matthew]

I've read a number of posts here about how ProCoder is considerably better than CCE for DV, but does this extend to all interlaced material?

I have a couple of PAL movies which are interlaced (shot on film, but rather than being subjected to a PAL speedup the length has been kept constant, first time I've seen this). I'm keeping the material interlaced because AFAIK it's better not to deinterlace, especially as the average bitrate is at least 4100.

Now, for these 2 titles, and the occasional shot-on-video tv series I back up, should I switch to ProCoder? I'd rather not bother but will if the quality is better. I have version 1.01.35.

Thanks sweeties :)

[wmansir]

From what I've seen ProCoder is better with all interlaced material. I think it is because it does field based encoding, rather than frame based. I did some test encodes of NTSC interlaced material (at lower bitrates/resolution for CVD), and the ProCoder results were markedly better.

However, one issue I have with ProCoder is that it uses luma compression and I haven't found a way to turn it off. This makes me reluctant to use it unless I'm using a low bitrate and the material isn't too affected by the compression.

[scharfis_brain]

I have a couple of PAL movies which are interlaced (shot on film, but rather than being subjected to a PAL speedup the length has been kept constant, first time I've seen this).
If you want to make it progressive, try the new script restore24
or try an avisynthscript
telecide(post=false)
decimate(25)

both are very common when interlacing occurs on film-material.

[Matthew]

Thanks for the replies.

scharfis_brain, my understanding is that de-interlacing reduces quality, am I wrong? It's not like I'm dealing with DivX/XviD where I don't really have a choice whether to de-interlace or not, which I imagine is what drives the search for quality de-interlacing. Also, restore24 appears to produce a 24 fps stream. Using a PAL-speedup, that would required re-encoding the AC3(s).

wmansir, my material is of a relatively higher bitrate but I suppose I'll give ProCoder a try then. Bah.

[ronnylov]

If the source material was shot on film then it's better to restore the progressive frames because it is more difficult for an encoder to encode interlaced format.

Anyway I have made some comparisons on encoding interlaced material and I think I got slightly better quality by using Mainconcept encoder 1.4 instead of Procoder 1.0.1.35. Procoder was still better than CCE. See this thread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61025

Regarding the compressed range in Procoder check taudules first post in this thread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58110&highlight=procoder+coloryuv%2A

I solved it by using avisynth 2.5:
ConvertToYUY2()
ColorYuv(levels="PC->TV")

And then feeding the video to procoder from avisynth via Link2.

[Matthew]

Originally posted by ronnylov
If the source material was shot on film then it's better to restore the progressive frames because it is more difficult for an encoder to encode interlaced format.

Well I ended up trying telecide and for both DVDs, when the avs is loaded in virtualdub there is still considerable combing, so a full de-interlace appears to be required. Maybe because they were created from telecined NTSC source, dunno.

[scharfis_brain]

Maybe because they were created from telecined NTSC source, dunno.
then try restore24

[Matthew]

But won't I then have to re-encode the audio, to account for the 4 percent PAL speedup? I'd rather keep the video interlaced than do that. If I were making SVCD it would be different, as I'd be re-encoding the audio anyway.