NTSC Source Questions

[Caspar]

Source is NTSC R1 DVD.

Information from Bitrate Viewer:
Num. of picture read: 31
Stream type: MPEG-2 MP@ML VBR
Resolution: 720*480
Aspect ratio: 16:9 Generic
Framerate: 29.97
Nom. bitrate: 9801600 Bit/Sec
VBV buffer size: 112
Constrained param. flag: No
Chroma format: 4:2:0
DCT precision: 10
Pic. structure: Frame
Field topfirst: Yes
DCT type: Field
Quantscale: Nonlinear
Scan type: Alternate
Frame type: Interlaced

Demuxed using DVD2avidg without force film. Frame serving using avisynth 2.5.4. Encode using CCE 2.5.

Questions:
1. In the "Getting the Best Out of CCE" guide where it imports the chapter information from ChapterXtractor to the .ecl file, do I need to set the frame rate to 23976 or 29970? The guide says to use 23976 but it doesn't make sense because my source is 29970. Does the guide assume force film is enabled?

2. Do I have to feed CCE with progressive frames? If so, which is recommended, forced film or decomb?

3. Can I leave the source 'as is'? I know for a fact from encoding mpeg4 videos that forced film is a bad method to deinterlace and decimate. Decomb is also not perfect because I have to use overrides 99% of the time.

4. If I leave the source 'as is' will I require to do a pull down?

5. What's the advantage of doing telecide, decimate and then a pull down to get back to 29.97fps?

6. According to the DVD Maestro guide I will have to do a few steps to get the subtitles and audio to sync, what will I require to do if I left the source 'as is'?

[Matthew]

I'm going to start by potentially (make that probably) insulting your intelligence :P This is true 29.97 right? You do realise that bitrate viewer reports that FPS for 23.976 source?

Anyway, I live in PAL land so my knowledge on matters NTSC is quite basic, but...

1) Common sense tells me 29970 :/
2) No.
3) Yes, you can leave the source interlaced, and it's perhaps the best thing to do if your bitrate is high enough (I'm assuming easy IVTC is not possible).
4) No, pulldown is for 23.976->29.97 only
5) Only benefit I know of (and it's a big one) is that all other things being equal, lower framerate = better quality because there are less frames that must be encoded to fit a constant size.
6) Only dealt with 23.976 pulldowned material myself, but have found all I need to do is set the m2v's drop frame flag to true using pulldown.exe, and subs sync fine. Without this flag they get further and further behind the video as the movie progresses.

[hendrix]

since your source is 29.970 interlaced then set your frame rate to 29970, encode as interlaced NOT progressive and dont deinterlace because it'll just make your video worse - you cant see the combing effect on TVs anyway.

only use force film if your source is Film 95%+ progressive

pulldown is only for 23.976fps source

[Caspar]

Thanks for the prompt response. Very helpful information.