Interlace or De-Interlace

[dayne33]

I recently puchased an EyeTV 200 and have it connected to my cable box via some composite video and audio cables.

I plan to burn what I record with EyeTV onto DVD and am concerned about whether or not I need to de-interlace the video before I burn it.

Should I De-Interlace the files or just leave them interlaced?

If it helps at all I will be viewing the burned DVD's on a 27" HDTV (HD Monitor, no built-in tuner) with a progressive scan DVD player

Sorry if this has been asked before or if I didn't supply enough info to allow you to properly answer the question, but, alas, I'M LATE FOR WORK....

Thanks in advance

[edDV]

For NTSC countries:

For most cable sources, capture and keep it interlaced to the DVD.

For pure film sources (like movie channels) you can experiment with IVTC (inverse telecine) which will create a progressive source by reordering and weaving fields. It takes a long time and saves approx 20% DVD disc capacity. Quality improvement is in the eye of the beholder but it won't be great on a 27" HD CRT.

[bugster]

My opinion on this. If the source is progressive (unlikley for cable unless its HD), leave it progressive. If the source is interlaced, leave it interlaced. Let your DVD player or display do the de-interlacing for a progressive display.

What edDV says about film sources is true, but it will only work for PURE film captures. Any ads or even CGI sequences could break the pulldown pattern, completley screwing up what the IVTC algorithm is trying to do and leaving a real mess on playback.

[edDV]

I agree on IVTC, it takes experimentation.

For HDTV, most HD cable sources are 1080i so the same issues hold. In the USA, only ABC-HD (local), FOX-HD (local) and ESPN HD are transmitted in 720p.

None of that applies to dayne33 since his EyeTV 200 will only be capping 480i/576i. Also, since the EyeTV 200 hardware encodes MPeg2 or MPeg4, he doesn't get a chance to IVTC before encoding.

[dayne33]

Thanks a lot guys. I guess I'll just leave it as is. Another question though:

What happens if I watch these interlaced DVD's when progressive scan is activated? Does the DVD Player automatically sense it's interlaced and handle it accordingly?

Thanks again

[edDV]

Thanks a lot guys. I guess I'll just leave it as is. Another question though:

What happens if I watch these interlaced DVD's when progressive scan is activated? Does the DVD Player automatically sense it's interlaced and handle it accordingly?

Thanks again

For a HD CRT,

If you set the DVD player for 480p progressive, it will force a hardware deinterlace in the DVD player. If you have a higher end "cinema" DVD player it may do a good job with IVTC of film material (your mileage varies).

You may find that with an interlace capable HD CRT, an interlaced picture is better in 480i mode. Switch to 480p for commercial film DVD playback.

For those with a native progressive display (e.g. LCD, plasma), the optimal DVD player setting depends on which hardware deinterlacer is best between the monitor and DVD player.

480i setting assumes TV hardware deinterlacer is betterwhen playing interlaced DVD.

480p setting assumes DVD player deinterlacer is better when playing interlace DVDs. This setting should be used for progressive encoded or commmercial film DVDs.

[dayne33]

Got it. Thanks a lot everybody, you were most helpful!