Interlaced DV

[malling]

I noticed that the video that I copy from mini-DV tapes through Firewire is interlaced. I guess that the best is just to archive this exact digital copy and then deinterlace it afterwards, either in connection with editing, or simply making a deinterlaced H.264/MP4 file through Handbrake for viewing? And then keep the original, interlaced DV file for archival purposes?

Also, another question: I guess that the time codes etc are kept in the DV files (AVI) - I use Scenalyzer to "capture" the video. The files have already been named by date and time according to the time code, but is there any other ways to extract those metadata? I think I saw once that you could convert them to subtitles?

I'd be interesting in hearing about your best practices in this regards.

BR Peter.

[Cornucopia]

1st - Yes, ALL DV is interlaced, and best practices is to archive this as interlaced. Don't deint prior to editing, as that may adversely affect the image (it must be interlace-aware). Deint when you are exporting to your h264 files, etc.

2nd-Look in the Software/Tools section here, there are apps called DVDate or DVProcessor by Enosoft, and one or more of those should be able to process your DATE/TIME stamped DV footage. Also there is a DVsubmaker app that should do it. Haven't used those in years maybe over a decade, though, so YMMV (especially regarding OS compatibility). Note that the "timecode" on standard DV (as opposed to DVCam and DVCPro professional variants) is NOT the same as SMPTE timecode, but Auxiliiary DV metadata. SMPTE LTC or VITC can co-exist with this, but never replaces it, and they operate very differently (plus are much more accurate).

Scott

[malling]

Thanks, Scott, for your elaborate and precise answer. Really helpful!
Peter