Surefire method to determine field order

[headless chicken]

Is there a surefire way to determine the field order of an avi?

I have tried the suggestion of previewing a "deinterlaced" clip in the advanced tab of TMPEGEnc but I can't tell which looks choppier--top field first, or bottom field first. I have also tried encoding clips to SVCD, but they seem identical. Does this mean my source is progressive and thus field order is irrelevant?

All I know is that my source is 25 fps PAL. Is there a program of some sort like GSpot that could tell me whether my source file is top field or bottom field first?

[nocarebear]

Is there a surefire way to determine the field order of an avi?

I have tried the suggestion of previewing a "deinterlaced" clip in the advanced tab of TMPEGEnc but I can't tell which looks choppier--top field first, or bottom field first. I have also tried encoding clips to SVCD, but they seem identical. Does this mean my source is progressive and thus field order is irrelevant?

When you press the right arrow keys several times and the video seems like it went back a frame, then you have the wrong field order. If you don't see the back step in the frames, then you have the right field order. If you don't see any back step from either top or bottom field first, then it is probably progressive and you don't need to worry about the field order.

[Drakng]

Tried your suggestion Nocarebear...
Both Top field and Bottom Field appeared to go backward!!!
What gives here?

[nocarebear]

Tried your suggestion Nocarebear...
Both Top field and Bottom Field appeared to go backward!!!
What gives here?

That has never happened to me before. I don't any other ways to determine field order except encoding a small clip and see if it looks right. If both don't look correct, I don't know what else you can do.

[sacajaweeda]

That's the way I do it. Find a piece of your source file with lots of side to side motion and encode it both ways. Author both clips and burn it to RW & try it out.