MainConcept Field Order

Decker wrote on 11/7/2003, 10:14 AM
I just purchased Screenblast Movie Studio 3.0. I am using it to
create DVDs from my 8mm analog video source. I am acquiring the video
through a DC10+. This board has hardware encoding to MJPEG and very
few adjustable parameters. When I render to NTSC DVD and author without
re-encoding using ULEAD Movie Factory 2, the video is jumpy during
pans and high motion. I believe this is due to the field order being
wrong. In searching the forum, there appears to be no method to
change the field order. To change the field order in the captured
source I believe I would have to run it through VirtualDub thus adding
an additional recompression (not to mention time and disk space).

I do not want to change my capture method because I plan to archive
the MJPEG to DVD data disks. The 8mm tapes could become difficult
to read if my camera dies and I have to search for used equipment.
DV requires too much space and is overkill for the analog video
quality.

Any ideas that don't involve buying something else ?

Thanks,

Dave

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 11/9/2003, 7:41 AM
You don’t have to change the field order of the source. Just change the field order of the MPEG file you create. I believe the DC10+ captures upper field first and DV is lower field first so all MPEG encoding is set to default to lower field first. Just change your MPEG template to match your source and you should be fine. I remember having to do this in DVD VideoFactory when I used my DC10. If you encode using MovieStudio just change the field order on the video tab of the customize dialog under advanced render.

~jr
Decker wrote on 11/10/2003, 10:50 AM
I tried to change the field order in the Advanced Render/Video tab but it would grey out the options when I selected the MainConcepts Encoder. I could change it if I used another encoder (i.e. DV).
Since I couldn't get the field order changed in the output I tried changing the field order on the File/Project Properties. It's not clear what this does, maybe just changes how the output image looks while editing. It did not change the field order of the output video. I then discovered that the clips in the media pool have a property dialog. In this dialog MS defaulted to setting the input to progressive. I changed it to upper field first and now all is well. You can also change this by double clicking on the clip on the timeline and selecting the media property button in the dialog box.
It's a little frustrating when you know it's a simple problem but can't find the right dialog box to change it. I guess DV video has more information so MS autodetects this for most people ? In retrospect MS should want to know the format of the source video and it tells you what it thinks it is in the media pool. It doesn't make as much logical sense to chage it in the output format. It would have been nice if it said that it doesn't know the format of the media it is being fed and asks you to change it. Progressive is a rather strange default.

Thanks for your help,

Dave