How to stop field reversal during capture

[johnmeyer]

I have an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500 DV with MMC 9.02, Catalyst version 5.1 and 6.14.10.6505 display drivers.

Problem: When I capture video and use the Huffyuv or Mainconcept DV codecs, the fields are reversed. Even if I capture using VirtualDub, I cannot seem to get the field reversal problem fixed. I have tried the field reversal option in the MC DV codec; the field swap option in VirtualDub, and Donald Graft's Virtualdub "Reverse Field Dominance" filter. No combination of any of these three options seems to work. I have also tried capturing using the ATI Multimedia Center (MMC).

The only way to fix the video is to import it into Vegas (a video editor from Sony) and do the field reversal there. The video then looks perfect. This is how I am certain that the problem is due to field reversal.

Is there a setting I can change so I can capture the video correctly without having to re-render every minute of captured video in Vegas in order to correct the field reversal problem?

[Boulder]

Have you tried using Avisynth?

AVISource("path\clip.avi")
DoubleWeave()
SelectOdd()

This will change the field order.

[johnmeyer]

Originally posted by Boulder
Have you tried using Avisynth?I haven't tried AVIsynth, although I'm sure it would work. As I said in my original post, I can fix the problem after the capture using Vegas. However, I was hoping there was some way I could fix it during the capture itself so I wouldn't have to re-render every darn frame of video.

[Boulder]

If your problem is incorrect field order, that script will fix it. You might want to try different driver versions for the card.

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing here, please use screenshots to describe the problem better if necessary.

[johnmeyer]

If your problem is incorrect field order, that script will fix it. You might want to try different driver versions for the card.Yes, I am certain the script will fix it. Reversing the fields in Vegas also fixes the problem. What I am trying to do is not figure out how to fix it AFTER I have captured it: I already know how to do that. What I am trying to do is "fix" the capture process so the fields get captured in the correct order in the first place so I don't have to waste time correcting the problem after the fact. Even with AVISynth (which is fast), and even if I put the output onto a second hard disk (to avoid reading/writing from the same disk), this fix will take a least 30-45 minutes for a two hour capture. If the fields can be captured in the correct order, I can completely eliminate this step and the associated time.

[Boulder]

Maybe you could use AVS2AVI to create a dummy avi file out of the script which you then feed to your editing program - if it does not support direct Avisynth input. I would also do all the necessary processing in the script but then again, I'm just a pig:)

[johnmeyer]

I guess what you're implying is that the AVISynth can serve the AVI file in real time, so there's no difference in time. Unfortunately, Vegas (my editing program) doesn't handle signposts (from VD, AVISynth or other frameserving apps), at least not very well (there is a kludge way of doing it, but it cuts off many of the functions).

Thanks for all your time and help!

[Boulder]

Then I suggest you check if AVS2AVI can help you. It creates a dummy AVI file out of the script which can then be fed to most programs that want AVI input.

EDIT: By the way, is the field order really a problem? It shouldn't matter whether you have BFF or TFF these days.
EDIT2: If you capture in HuffYUV, you can force it to swap the fields during decoding. It's meant for situations like yours.;)