Only 1 field for still pictures in DVD movie? Help!

[rclayton17]

Hey all, my sister made a dvd movie, probably using iMovie (she has a mac).

So as we are watching it on our standalone dvd player, when the still photos come up, it appears as if only 1 video field is displaying. The pictures look all jaggy.

But when the pictures are fading in or out, they look fine. It's just when they come to a stop, they look funny.

I have made some movies using Sony Vegas and it appears to have the same problem. Text and pictures look fine as they are fading in or out, but when they are still, it looks jaggy.

Is this just how it is when you make dvd movies? Or is there some kind of setting you have to use?

[rclayton17]

bump

[Rivers]

Don't know if this is any help but I use still frame grabs for menus etc and I get jaggy edges and/or movement when using Ulead for this. I put it down to the still frame being interlaced.
I found that Paint Shop Pro has a deinterlacing feature that takes off one frame and the pic looks fine then, smooth edges and no movement. Might be the opposite answer to your problem but since you've had no replies I give you my pennies worth!

[rclayton17]

thanks for your reply. I'll be sure to check it out.

[guns1inger]

When creating slideshows etc, I usually apply either a small gaussian blur (0.1 or 0.2) or a small vertical blur.

[rclayton17]

In Vegas 5 if you right click on a photo that's in the timeline/track/whatever you call it... there are options for Field Order, and Alpha Channel.

In field order the default is "None (Progressive Scan)," but you can pick "Upper Field First" or "Lower Field First."

In Alpha Channel the default is "None" but you can pick "Undefined," "Straight (Unmatted)," "Premultiplied," and "Premultiplied (Dirty)."

There is also a checkbox for "Reduce interlace flicker."

Do any of these things look like it would fix the problem that i mentioned in the first post?

By the way, my standalone dvd player doesn't have progressive scan.

[guns1inger]

The problem is fine lines or edges in the image falling on or very close to scanlines on your display. As the interlaced scanlines draw, you get this flicker effect. Adding a slight blur in the vertical helps make these flickering parts of the image span more than a single scanline, and hence reduce the appearance of flicker.

Simply making the video progressive won't necessarily fix the problem, as your player and TV will interlace the output anyway. Reduce Interlace Flicker options usually work by applying a slight blur, perhaps selectively.

When using text, never use a serif font (e.g Times New Roman) or fine details (e.g. script fonts) unless youa re using a large point size. Always anti-alias, always. If you are applying a title or overlay, apply a blur only to it, to avoid softening the image behind it.

Finally, sometimes you just have to try different fonts until you get one that works.

When working with stills, I always prep them in photoshop first. This means cropping to the correct view, and resizing for video. Photoshop has the best filters for this, and you can see exactly how it will look before you go through the authoring process. This is alsp where I apply a small vertical blur if I think there will be a problem. Note : If I think there will be a problem. After a while you get a feel for what will be a problem, what won't, and what might be. If you don't have to blur, then don't.

[rclayton17]

I found that Paint Shop Pro has a deinterlacing feature that takes off one frame and the pic looks fine then, smooth edges and no movement.

Photoshop has a De-interlace feature too. I'm just not sure which options to choose.

In the De-interlace dialog box it says:

Eliminate:
(X) Odd Fields
( ) Even Fields

Create New Felds by:
( ) Duplication
(X) Interpolation

I put the X's where they were by default. Would those be the right settings to choose? Thanks for the help.

[guns1inger]

You can't deinterlace a still photo. The deinterlace function is for screen grabs.

[dipstick]

You may also try Cropping all your images to 720 x 540 (NTSC) before you import into Vegas. I don't use Vegas, but it may be creating those jagged lines when it has to manually resize them to 720 x 480 (NTSC).

It could be that your images are not the propper Aspect Ratio to start with. By starting with 720 x 540, you already have the correct 4:3 Aspect Ratio. This is assuming you are using NTSC.