Field order for PAL DVD

[PeskyJ]

Does it matter? What should it be?

Thanks to the help I got from borax in another thread, I managed to get my buttons working and also made them work correctly on DVD players when in Letterbox mode. However after testing on a few different players I am left confused about field order for interlaced video...

My interlaced footage is all filmed in 16:9 on a Panasonic NV-GS500, other bits of footage are non-interlaced digital camera movies and stills. All the titles and menus are 16:9 on the DVD.

I tested it on the only non-computer DVD player I have in my house, a PlayStation2 connected to a regular CRT TV. The result was horrible, the field order was clearly backwards, the video looked jerky and flickery, jumping two fields forwards and one back each "frame". I was unable to test Letterbox mode on the PS2 because it wouldn't let me change from 16:9, but the TV has a 16:9 mode so I could still view at the correct aspect.

I have connected the video camera directly to this TV before and it looked excellent, so I figure I've got the field order backwards in the editing software and I need to re-render everything with it switched. However, then I tried it on two normal DVD players (at friends' houses) and it looked fine in both letterbox and 16:9 modes, as if the field order was correct.

I also tried it on a PlayStation3 on a hi-def TV and it looked pretty terrible on there too. The same as on a computer screen, you could see both fields at once, we tried messing with the settings on the PS3 and TV but couldn't get it to look right.

Anyway, this has left me really confused...

Is the field order wrong in my DVD and I should correct it? I'm guessing this means the two regular DVD players must detect the field order and correct it?

Is there a 'correct' field order for PAL and some devices like the PS2 assume the footage is correct?

Ta,
J

[edDV]

DV is BFF (bottom field first or lower field first) so if editing, set project to BFF and encode to DVD MPeg2 BFF. If you import TFF to a BFF project, the edit software should make the conversion.

Many edit programs default to DV and BFF unless changed by user. DVD, HDV and AVCHD camcorders are TFF. An HDV project defaults to TFF.

Field order should be tested on a conventional CRT TV.

[MysticE]

When I had my video stores I got so tired of the playstation2 crowd and their constant complaints/problems with my DVDs. I told them to go elsewhere.

[PeskyJ]

Ok thanks guys.. I'll just take it that the PS2 can't really play DVDs properly then.