encode interlaced material witth ffmepg to MPEG2 but get progressive output

[Massa]

I have some miniDV material and want to encode to DVD format.
When I try the codec ffmeg, even if I don't check deinterlace in the options menu, the output is always progressive.
It seems that ffmeg will always assume I have progressive material and encode as progressive.
When I use a (old and slow) windows PC with command line ffmepg there are options to make it assume the input is interlaced and keep the output material like that.
Can I do that with ffmpegx?

[FulciLives]

Just use HCenc

It is the best MPEG-2 encoder that is free and very nearly as good as more expensive options like CCE aka Cinema Craft Encoder.

It can properly handle both interlaced and progressive inputs.

Also unlike FFMPEG it will respect the bitrates you set on it. I can never get FFMPEG to do that ... it always ends up being a lower bitrate than what I specified. So annoying.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Massa]

Does HC work on the Mac?

[tomlee59]

Depending on which Mac OS version you're running, you may be able to use MediaPipe. It will properly support interlaced output. For some comments, see the excellent writeup by Matti Haveri, at http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCD_on_a_Macintosh.html

As he notes, MediaPipe is no longer actively updated, so it may have problems. But as it's free, it's relatively painless to give it a try and see what happens. He kindly provides alternative recommendations (including of commercial tools), so if MediaPipe doesn't work for you, you have other things to try.


You might also want to take a look at http://www.angelfire.com/mac/rnc/ for a collection of GUIs to open-source mpeg tools.

[Massa]

Thanks for all the support.
I assume that there is no way to use ffmpegx to produce interlaced material, is that right?

[Case]

I wasn't aware that there is any issue with interlaced material. Do tell how you determined that your output was progressive when it shouldn't be.

[Massa]

the input was mini DVD, top field first interlaced.
when I encode with a windows based encoder like quenc or HC, I check the video properties and it says: Interlaced, TTF
when I encode with FFMEGX, ffmpeg profile, it says on properties: progressive

I is probably deinterlacing by default.
Whe I use a ffmpeg gui in windows, or quenc, there is always an option to click telling the encoder to consider that the input is interlaced or progressive, what I didn't find in Ffmpegx but assumed was automati given that the INFO button detects that.

[tomlee59]

Just out of curiosity, which version of ffmpegx are you using? Is it the latest one?

I do know that ffmpeg had a definite interlace output bug several years ago. I am surprised that it appears not to have been fixed in all that time, so perhaps you are using an outdated ffmpegx?

[Massa]

It is the latest FFMPEGX, downloaded from the site last week

[tomlee59]

After doing a little checking around, ffmpeg has been properly updated to provide interlaced output (for several years, now, in fact). However, ffmpegx may not have been (but I do not know). But if Matti Haveri's page (http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCD_on_a_Macintosh.html last updated this year) contains up-to-date information about ffmpegx, then there still may be a bug.

If this is in fact the case (yet to be verified, but your experiments tend to support that belief), then you have the option of using ffmpeg from the terminal window and enter arcane commands. It might be easiest to simply edit the string that ffmpegx is generating in its attempts -- it's probably mostly correct. Indeed, examining that string might very well allow you to determine the source of the error.