Ultimate-S Widescreen problem with interlaced footage.

Laurence wrote on 2/13/2005, 9:34 PM

I used Ultimate-S to change the aspect ratio of an interlaced product when Ultimate-S first came out. It worked really well. It somehow juggled the interlace lines so that they fit perfectly in the new aspect ratio. It impressed the heck out of me because what I would have expected was for the interlace lines to be enlarged vertically and no longer match the interlace lines on the TV.

I just tried the same conversion on a new project tonight and I can no longer get it to work like this. Now when I change the aspect ratio on Ultimate-S, what I get are vertically enlarged interlace lines that look absolutely horrible upon playback. I've looked for settings that might be wrong, but I can't find any. Am I doing something wrong or has this feature somehow been changed as Ultimate-S has been updated?

I just watched my old project again to make sure it looked as good as I remember and it did. The aspect ratio conversion of the interlaced footage was exactly like it should be. Why can't I do it now?

Comments

Laurence wrote on 2/13/2005, 10:50 PM

Well I just uninstalled Ultimate-S and installed the first version 1.0. Same thing. I uninstalled version 1.0 and installed version 1.1. No better. I'm not sure what is going on. No matter what I do, the interlace lines are stretched vertically and TV playback looks horrible.

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:03 PM

Nothing has changed. It's got to be one of two things.
1. you have weirdness in the footage
2. you moved the pan/crop areas up or down.

Ultimate S can't see the frame, nor the interlace patterns, all it's doing is calling forth the same attributes you'd apply by hand. In other words, it doesn't touch the frame at all, but if you move the pan/crop tool up or down, you might accidentally invert fields.

Laurence wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:17 PM

Then there is no way to rescale the interlace pattern when you resizethe video vertically to change the aspect ratio?

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:19 PM

Not accurately, no. This is why we don't change width, so that we don't worry about crossing/inverting fields.

Laurence wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:26 PM

So lets say you have some interlaced video, and you want to keep it interlaced and the 60i motion feel, but change the aspect ratio so that it frames correctly on a widescreen TV; how would you do this?

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:29 PM

Using Ultimate S. That's how I always do it. But if you move the pan/crop target on a frame, you MIGHT invert fields.

Laurence wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:55 PM

I haven't moved the pan/crop target. I know that if I do this I have to go an even number of lines, but I haven't touched it. I simply can't get it to work tonight, though I have in the past. Every time I try I get oversized interlaced lines that don't line up with the interlacing of the TV. I have an old project in front of me that I did with Ultimate-S and the 16:9 interlacing is perfect, but I can't get it to work tonight. Not even on the same exact video file.

Heres what I'm doing:

1) Start a regular 4:3 60i DV blank project
2) drop in a regular 4:3 60i avi.
3) run Ultimate-S "convert 4:3 project to widescreen" script.
4) view the results on an external 4:3 monitor.

What I expect to see is a vertically stretched but properly interlaced image. Instead I'm getting an image where the interlace pattern is stretched vertically at the same percentage as the image. If I render this to widescreen mpeg, burn it to DVD and view it on my HD TV, it looks terrible. It is such a simple process and it worked the last time I tried it. I can't imagine what I am doing wrong.

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:57 PM

Hmmm.....neither can I. Without seeing the source footage, that's a toughie.
Let's take this one offline, and maybe JR or I can find the problem. Send a mail to support@vasst.com

Laurence wrote on 2/13/2005, 11:58 PM

Thanks.

Laurence wrote on 2/14/2005, 7:20 AM

I figured it out. The problem isn't Ultimate-S at all. It's a bug in Vegas 5d. I've started a new thread here:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=359987&Page=0