interlace, deinterlace, reinterlace, ??????? Confused!

[tmh]

OK, I should be smart enough to figure this out from the searches I've done here, but I'm not. There seems to be some conflicting info out there so I'd like some clarification.

My projects are almost always Camcorder DV to DVD for stanalone players. I also often add jpg photos to the video and often a soundtrack. That's about it.

If, as I have read, DV is already interlaced, then should I do nothing about this as I'll be fine with interlaced on the final DVD? If I DID de-interlace with VDub, then do I need a "Progressive" DVD player to view properly? On that thought, if my DVD player is termed "progressive" does that mean it ALWAYS needs progressive DVD's or can I stay interlaced and it will be fine also?

What is the best computer DVD player software to preview my videos if I keep them as interlaced to approximate what I'll see on the standalone DVD player.

BTW, I've never benn involved with technology that one would think should be very simple yet is soooo complicated! Oh, well, screwing around with this stuff sure beats working.

[Richard_G]

If you intend viewing on a TV, leave it as interlaced. If you only ever wanted to view on a computer you could de-interlace, otherwise, PowerDVD does a pretty good job with interlaced footage.

[yg1968]

Progressive Scan DVD players have the option of playing in the progressive scan mode or the normal TV mode. The progressive scan mode will only work with a progressive scan HDTV. If you don't have an HDTV, you probably should not be worrying about de-interlacing or about the progressive scan mode on your DVD player. Even if you have an HDTV, I doubt that you will get better results by de-interlacing the original DV video. Any TV can play de-interlaced video without problems but de-interlacing an original interlaced video reduces the quality of the video.

P.S. Certain higher end DV camcorders film in progressive scan non-interlaced DV but this is rare. If you had such a camcorder, you would leave the video as de-interlaced.

[Ste]

Ya, everyone's right. Leave it interlaced. Progressive scan DVD players' jobs are to de-interlace your interlaced DVDs in real time. Let them do all the work. Anyway, you'll get the best results by leaving your source footage interlaced on either setup(standard TV or HDTV with pro-scan).

[lordsmurf]

These posts above mine make me proud.

I remember as little as 18 months ago posts like this went ignored because nobody knew what interlace was. Times have changed ... for the better!

http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/interlace.htm