Interlaced or Progressive for easier editing?

[Darryn Carroll]

After experimenting with new FX1000 and different modes and settings, I noticed one clip was extremely easy to edit while the other one was very "laggy" when editing in timeline. Is it theoretically correct that either the Interlaced or Progressive clip was easier to edit? Brand new to HD aquisition and I am trying to find the best modes and setting for capturing weddings,lightweight editing and produced to regular DVD's.

[David Heath]

Just a thought, but could it be that you haven't changed the project settings to match the change in camera setting?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Darryn

Based on your other thread I think you have already discovered that the FX provides a better overall performance in HDV so shoot in 60i and as already mentioned, make sure that the NLE project settings match the media settings and also make sure you de-interlace in the NLE.

Which NLE are you using?? I can help with project settings in Sony Vegas only but tons of other people use different NLE's and will assist you

Chris

[Darryn Carroll]

Thank you, I prefer using Corel VideoStudio Pro XP for my editing. Bear in mind that my editing is more like multi-trimming and adding transitions. The Corel has a cool thumbwheel which really expedites trimming for me. I have Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platitinum HD 11.0 but have not spend enough timing learning it, although I do ingest with it because it will tell me if I have dropped frames. I usually trim and add transitions, the render to edited segment. I end up with 3-4 segments that I put together in Cyberlinks PowerDirector, add some titles, overlays and music background, then produce DVD. I dont "see" any interlaced options on this camera, so I assume if I choose progressive "off" this is where I get the Interlaced? Also, when you say 60i, the 60 would be the frame rate I select when selecting the frame rate button when in manual mode? When I set back to auto am I still in that same 60i mode?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Darryn

I have no idea as I have never had an FX1000 ....You might need the advice of a FX owner here!!

With interlaced, assuming you are going to want it going to either DVD or on the web, it's important to set your project so it does a de-interlace of the footage ... In Vegas I simply set the de-interlace method to either "blend" or "interpolate" (for weddings always blend as their is little hi speed movement)

Corel with have it's own way of de-interlacing ... the manual should give you a good idea ... that way your interlaced footage has the interlacing stripped off so it become a kind of progressive (it usually blends the odd and even frames) ...Once edited you can render to MPEG2 for DVD or to MP4 for the web

Chris

[Jay West]

My four year-old FX1000 has only HDV1080i and DV modes, which are 60i only. No options for anything progressive. I gather that the OP has a newer version FX1000 that currently offers 30p and 24p. No 60p AFAIK. The choices will most likely be in the camera menu chapter for record settings. On my FX1000, this is titled "in/out record."

I've never worked with the Corel NLE, but I would think you would have settings other than "progressive on" and "progressive off." Maybe not. But, for matching settings for HDV, you want to find out the mode in which your video was recorded. If you shot with the default settings, that will be interlaced HDV. In your sequence settings or preferences in the Corel NLE, look for something like: "HDV 1440x1080i" or maybe "NTSC HD 1440x1080/60i" or "HDV 1440x1080/30i." If you use a 24p or 30p mode, then you want settings like "1440x1080/30p" or the like.

FYI, 30i and 60i are just different ways of saying the same thing. That is, interlaced 30 FRAMES per second is the same as interlaced 60 FIELDS per second. Several years ago, the nomenclature committees decided that "30i" would be the preferred term, but a lot of folks still call it 60i. (It's 25i and 50i for those in PAL regions.)

But, if you shoot 30p or 24p, there are no fields.

If you set your NLE sequence to use settings different than the ones the video was shot with, then the software has to reformat the video. That adds processing overhead which inevitably slows things down on the computer. For example, if you use 60p as your sequence setting but you shot in 60i, then the computer is tasked with converting each field into a full frame by interpolating the missing lines. (You do know that an interlaced "frame" has two "fields," one with all the odd numbered scan lines and the other with all the even-numbered scan lines?)

It is not quite as taxing if you pick, say, 1920 x 1080 but the software still has to reprocess. Your HDV image has rectangular pixels --- that is what 1440x1080 HDV is, btw. The 1920x1080 setting uses square pixels. The computer processes your HDV by (more or less) dividing the rectangular pixels into smaller square pixels to get 1920x1080 format. Some systems and NLEs handle this more easily (and sometimes better) than others. You get the idea that there is processing required to take one format and display it in another.

If you shot in 30p want to edit in 60i, the software has to split each 30p frame into a pair of fields. This may easier if the camera uses PSF methods for recoding as progressive frames, depending on whether the FX1000 has a true 30p or is actually recording at 29.97 fps. (Don't know what the new FX1000 does as I don't have the newer version; info should be on the specs page of the operating guide).

It gets harder for the system if you shot in 24p and are set to edit in, say, 60i. The system and software not only have to convert frames to fields, but have to add (interpolate) additional frames and fields to from 24 frames to 60 fields.

As for editing for making DVDs, there does not seem to be a consensus about editing and coding. Some are passionate about shooting and editing in progressive modes. Some prefer shooting and editing interlaced. Still others prefer to shoot HDV but edit in DV when a DVD is the end product. A search here will turn up a ton of information.

[Adam Gold]

As we pointed out on your other thread, the FX1000 doesn't really do progressive. It does PsF, which is fake progressive, or p over i, which your editor likely can't handle. Not all do. With the FX1000, always shoot interlaced.

All FX1000s do this. I bought one of the first ones and page 66 of the manual details what this is, even on the earliest ones they made, AFAIK.

If your editor was acting all laggy, either you had a settings mismatch, as suggested above, or it just can't handle p over i.