Capture settings or other issue? (Interlaced video, and a few questions...)

[DonnieC]

Hi folks, brand new here, and new to DV. I am having an issue with what I think is interlaced video, and have been searching, but so far every solution I find on interlaced video deals with the edit/render stage. Where I'm seeing the interlacing is in the capture stage and I'm not sure what to do about it. The attached image is a screenshot from Windows Media Player of one of the AVI files.

I have a Canon XL2, capturing to a Dell laptop using the 1394/firewire port. I am using Sony Vegas Pro 8's capture. I don't see the interlacing on the Canon's LCD screen, only during capture (on the capture preview window in Vegas) and after capture (when I play back the AVI files). I haven't found a way to change the format it captures in, is this even possible?

Should I be using another method to capture? Are there settings that I may have missed in Vegas that could be causing this? I've tried changing just about every setting, and have recaptured tapes a few times, but so far no luck and keep seeing the artifacts.

I assume it doesn't matter, but does the capture setting need to match the frame rate on the camera? I have tried changing this in Vegas (project properties), but I think it's being overridden.

Thanks!
--Donnie

[jagabo]

You have interlaced video. If you are making a DVD you don't need to do anything about it. Leave the video interlaced and make an interlaced DVD. The DVD player and TV will take care of it at playback.

I believe your camcorder has a progressive 24 fps mode but the data will still be saved in a 30 fps DV AVI file. You need special software to restore it to 24 fps frames. I suspect Vegas supports this. If you want smoother motion use 30 fps interlaced. If you want that jerky film look, or if you want to post videos online, use the 24 fps progressive mode.

[DonnieC]

Hey thanks jagabo. We will DVD for some of this footage, but most of it will be for web-use only. I'll check the settings for progressive mode. For some of the footage I did use 23.97 fps on the camera.

[jagabo]

When encoding for DVD be sure to get the field order right. DV is bottom field first.

You can also deinterlace the interlaced video for online posting (YouTube, etc). I think Vegas is ok at deinterlacing.

[DonnieC]

Cool, thanks. FYI, the same clip looks fine in when bringing it into Vegas for editing; there are no artifacts or lines. It renders out just fine as well. Must just be WMP and the preview in capture mode.

[DonnieC]

BTW, the Vegas help docs has info on working with projects at 24fps, so if anyone is having similar issues, there are step-by-step instructions there for converting, etc.