Field Order Switching on ATSC OTA Capture

[smokeslikeapoet]

Scrolling through an ATSC capture I noticed that during certain parts of the video the field order switches from BFF to TFF during a scene. This probably isn't a problem with my equipment. I'm guessing this is either a problem with the affiliate broadcast, the network feed, or the individual camera used during the broadcast. Any ideas? If it's the broadcast feed I can email the station engineer to check out the problem, if it's any of the others I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

[laserfan]

Scrolling through an ATSC capture I noticed that during certain parts of the video the field order switches from BFF to TFF during a scene...Sorry I have no ideas for you, but I have been capturing HDTV for a year or two now and have seen that problem & many more.

Sometimes it seems the broadcasters are specifically trying to "get us". Example: I capped Grey's Anatomy most of the season, and easily converted episodes to XviD using simple IVTC. Since I missed a few episodes, and the wife loves the series (!), I've been trying to grab re-runs, and THEY CHANGED THE ENCODING!!!? I don't get it; previously I used straight Telecide on the things and in the re-runs they're tossing-in interlaced video here & there. So the rerun episodes don't look quite as smooth as the regular season grabs.

Another series that's driven me nuts is NBC's "ER". Mostly film but some video too, and blended frames... But having said all this, my recordings are wildly better than analog Tivo or (horrors) Super-Beta! :o

[smokeslikeapoet]

I don't think this is on purpose. I think they might have one camera setup incorrectly. I'm not going to go field-by-field through 2 hours worth of video to figure it out though. It might be nice if DGIndex could detect field order changes and make the adjustments. Would this be possible?

[Guest]

If it is progressive video that has field order inversions due to RFF flagging, then DGIndex can already correct that.

Post an unprocessed transport/MPEG sample showing inversions and I'll tell you whether DGIndex can help.

If not, you'll have to fix things manually.

[laserfan]

I don't think this is on purpose. I think they might have one camera setup incorrectly.Well I don't think so, that would indicate an original production issue, and all "regular season" I had no problems w/Grey's. I think what (at least) I'm seeing is possibly local affiliate or broadcast issues.

[smokeslikeapoet]

I'll get a sample uploaded tonight.