My camcorder footage, as well as most, ends up interlaced. Even though I have virtualdub, I have not been able to figure out how to use it. The process of DEinterlacing is a friggin mystery to me! To my surprise, I found that my sony w-80 still cam shoots video footage that is already deinterlaced-or at least appears to be, and looks great!
Below are frame captures from both my canon dv camcorder,(first pic) and my sony w-80 still cam. The sony frame cap was from footage shot in video mode! The quality is amazing and far superior to the interlaced capture from my camcorder, which SHOULD take better video than a still cam!
In my recent video, UniGeezer: “Terry’s MUni Minute”, I used my regular camcorder first, then starting at about :57, I switched to my sony still cam in video mode. You will notice a striking difference in the footage of each camera. You can pause the footage taken with the still cam in video mode at any point and it looks clean and absolutely ZERO artifacts.
I’m hoping that my next camcorder, the canon hv-30 will also shoot dv footage that also will not need to be deinterlaced.
If you are doing any digital video not intended for direct playback on a television (interlaced) you want a camera that will record in progressive scan. When you do your editing you can de-interlace the video which usually selects one of the interlaced channels, and drops the other one. The fringing can be minimized, but I haven’t had good luck with completeley eliminating it. Most likely the still camera shoots in progressive scan mode, and that is why the video looks better. I suspect that a regular progressive scan video camera will be even better.
I use movie maker which does not have a deinterlace option. I’ve heard good things about sony vega editing software, but footage I upload and edit from my still cam, that has been shot in video mode, needs no deinterlacing or anything. I believe that the canon hv-30 shoots in several different modes, including HD 1080p (progressive) so that footage can be recorded that is free of any interlacing from the get-go. This would be preferable to having to deinterlace later.
Well, deinterlacing isnt a hard thing to do. With pretty much any standard quality editor, all it is is checking the box that says progressive or deinterlace and thats it.
Too bad movie maker does not have that option. I’ll just get a high quality HD camcorder that records in progressive mode, eliminating any need to deinterlace during editing or saving.
Yep I’ve watched a few; Confusing and complicated as hell! Codecs here, paste this there, open this, trasfer that, compress this, change bitrate., choose these filters…blah blah blah! Forget it lol!
I know, cause its consumer-grade. Windows media encoder pack would let you get deinterlaced clips though. Virtualdub would probably give you the best results as it looks like you have a lot more control. I hate dropping a field. Blending usually gets me a better result.
Anyways, youre gonna have a lot of options. But do read up on what your camera records in. A lot of them only offer progressive recording at 24fps, and that can get pretty stuttering with lots of action and fast movements.
you make enough videos that it would probably be money well spent to buy Adobe Premier CS4, it’s a great program (as all adobe ones are) and once you figure it out it would make you videos look much much better.
I haven’t been impressed with Premier in the past, but the last version I used was CS2. The problem I had was that the capture was dropping a lot of frames. The other thing was that it had a hard time reading avi files captured with a different app. Once I got it to use the good capture it still was a resource hog, and ran slower as I my vid got longer. I had much better results with Avid.
Maybe I’ll give the new version a shot. I’ll have to see, but I think it’s in the version of CS4 I installed a few weeks ago.
I have the exact same problem. I had a Kodak easyshare Z712is that took video at 30fps. The video was awesome. I now have a JVC Everio and I get that, weird line clipping crap whenever anything moves too quickly on screen. This is a problem since I mainly shoot juggling videos.
I’ll try the deinterlace thing.
Either way, I’m looking to get another easyshare Z series. Probably the Z1215is this time. Full HD video for $215 on eBay. It’s a little bulky for a point and shoot but, the pic and video quality makes up for it.
Terry. MM will de-interlace. There is no way in hell it does not have the option.
Cameras that shoot in progressive mode, are nice for some things, but action is not one of them. 30fps will give you good results, the problem with all the 30f/30p consumer cameras is that they are still shooting in 60i, the camera is just doing a fancy “de-interlace” with the footage as is captures.
This is fine if you want the “film look” as in soft edges, and blured motion. For action type filming you are going to get much better results out of 60i footage and doing your own de-interlacing in the post production.
Your still camera may be getting nice edges, however the chances of it dealing with motion and pans as well as a camera made for video are very slim.
Your best bet is to just learn how to de-interlace in post. There are 2 easy ways to do this.
1.You can use a de-interlace filter
2.You can check the de-interlace option in the export settings.
using a filter on your footage before editing can save render times, but I have found de-interlacing during export gives me better results.
You need to keep in mind that 60i footage is going to give the most realistic picture. Better motion and better pans. Progressive fooatage is going to look more like film, which is due mostly to the amount of blur created from capturing less frames.
AgentQ, please tell me where the option to de-interlace is (in MM), and where to find it.
Edit: Here’s some interesting info I found on shooting in progressive mode, or adjusting the shutter speed:
Progressive mode in the camera
The best option, if available to you, is to use the progressive mode in your camera (again, if your camera has progressive mode). This way there is no interlacing and you can edit and encode directly to your output file. This will produce the best results overall, and saves time since you won’t have to de-interlace in software. You can ignore the entire de-interlacing issuing all together!
If your camera does not have a progressive mode, you might, in some situations, be able to use a little trick to simulate progressive mode: if your camera permits setting a shutter speed, set the shutter speed to 1/30th of a second. On many cameras this ends up recording a progressive image. The slower shutter speed may cause some blurring on fast moving subjects but for many scenes, no one will notice whether it was shot at 1/30th or 1/60th of a second.
What ever you do, please de-interlace or otherwise we all suffer the jaggies during camera pans and moving action in your video!
The first part of that is only true if you are only trying to eliminate the jaggies. Interlaced footage produces a much more “realistic” picture, for things like reality TV or action sports.
The second part is true. I found that I do not have to shoot at 1/30, but get pretty good results with any multiple of 30. like 1/30, 1/60, 1/90, 1/120, 1/150, 1/180, 1/210… anything past 210 will pretty much eliminate motion blur and your picture will end up looking shuttery, so keeping it in the 60-180 seams to be a happy medium of clear action and smooth motion.
you will not be turning your interlaced footage into progressive, by changing the shutter speed, so like it said, you still NEED to de-interlace.
Canon HV30: As long as you’re shooting in 60i, the assurance of compatibility tends to hold true. Shooting in 24P and 30P can become a problem, however, with consumer-grade editing software. (Such as MM!:()
Pro-level software such as Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, and Avid Xpress Pro have no problem, but very few casual shooters will have the money or the inclination to learn these complex systems. If you’re planning on using the alternate frame rates on the HV30, be sure you have the editing software to support it.
If you do not already capture your footage as a .wmv file that should work for you. I guess WMM will keep interlaced footage interlaced if you capture as AVI, but will de-interlave automatically if you capture as WMV… Hope this helps…
I’ll just get a high quality HD camcorder that records in progressive mode, eliminating any need to deinterlace during editing or saving.
