? re: Interlacing / Field order / Analysis Tool ??

[Ripper2860]

I'm kind of new to this stuff and am mainly capturing VHS and ripping DVD's for viewing on TV via SVCD (DVD2SVCD w/ CCE and D2SRoba). I assume since these sources are designed for playing on TV's, that they are an interlaced source. I understand that if I am to view the fruits of my encoding labor on TV, the end results should should be encoded as interlaced as well. So far I've had good luck on the quality of my VHS and DVD archival efforts.

Now -- I also download occassional AVI's and MPG's for burning to and there's the rub. I have no idea whether these are progressive or interlaced and the field order for proper re-encoding. Is there any tool similar to G-Spot that can check a video file (AVI / MPEG) and tell you whether it is interlaced and if so the field order?

Also -- since I am viewing on TV -- does it really matter whether the SVCD has a progressive or interlaced source? Will the TV not interlace it as a function of displaying? If so -- is that why the field order is important?

If I download a file and it is progressive -- what should I select as a field order when re-encoding for US TV viewing?

I guess you can tell by my questions, I really know VERY LITTLE about the black art of video encoding. However, I can't help but think that the quality of these files on TV would be greatly increased if I understood this process better and had a tool to let me know the inner workings of the file.

Thanks for indulging a newbie! I know there are quite a few questions posed. I look forward to your replies.

[daamon]

Hi Ripper2860,

I'm fairly new to this too, so don't know of a definitive tool that loads a file and gives you the answers.

However, I have a "TMPGEnc - 20 Tips" file that I downloaded (in .pdf, 184kb in size) that does have a method using TMPGEnc to help you identify the interlace order.

Mail me your email address (or post here if you're comfortable) and I'll send it.

[FOO]

Vdub has a "popup extended options" checkbox in the file open
menu. It allows you to separate and swap fields. If you do that
and step through the video you can see which way it is.