ASSUS TV TUNER interlaced problem

[Docoptik]

I Have ASUS TV TUNER P7131 and in the box there was the software TOTAL MEDIA 3.5

When i watch TV i have no problem BUT when i record (in Mpeg2 format) and i watch it after with Media Player Classic or if i have to edit video file with Virtualdub i noticed that i have interlaced fields.

Is there any solution?
Do i have to change something at the settings of TOTAL MEDIA or ATI via Catalyst or do you suggest to find another software tv watch-capture?

GFX: ATI RADEON HD2600 XT
codec pack: CCCP
Monitor: CRT Hitachi
P4 at 3.0 GHz
1GB ram DDR1


Thanks in advanced

[jagabo]

Turn on the deinterlacer in MPC or the MPEG 2 decoder.

[titigrom]

Hi

I think there's no problem with your capturing settings. But you should give us more details about your settings with TOTAL MEDIA 3.5.

Capturing in MPEG-2 at full resolution in SD (PAL = 720x576, NTSC = 720x480) creates interlaced video and it's normal because of the source of the video like real life video, news, documentaries, etc. You won't notice it if it's a movie that it is in general progressive when digitalized... Have a look at this little explanation :

http://download.videohelp.com/dvdforger/help/howto_3.html

And your ASUS TV TUNER P7131 is able to capture analog or digital as I see its specifications : in digital mode ie when it's Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial (DVB-T), I think Total Media record directly into MPEG-2 without compressing anything because DVB uses MPEG-2 that is near DVD standard. And Total Media may use some kind of software to deinterlace your video when you watch it in live. But what you record is still interlaced.

When you play your recorded file with MPC, MPC uses its own filters to decode MPEG-2 and by default I think it's set to "weave". Look at the properties of the MPEG decoder when you play your file and set it to "Bob" : it will help you watching your video with ease.

Virtualdub can't deinterlace video directly when you open a file into. There's another aspect with Virtualdub about what you called an interlaced problem because Virtualdub isn't a player but a processing video tool. You can deinterlace your video with its filters but I do not recommand it because you will lose some smoothness and details in moving pictures. Interlaced materials is just annoying in computer world because of digitalizing. But test this : burn some files you've recorded into a blank DVD with appropriated soft (DVD data with *.mpg or DVD Video). Play your burnt DVD with a standalone DVD player and have a look with your TV set : no interlaced problem !

May I have help you with these explanations but your must know some technical facts about what is MPEG-2 to understand why interlacing is. Regards.

Titigrom

[Docoptik]

I believe that when i installed TOTAL MEDIA also installed mainconcept mpeg2 encoder 1.2.3353 as i saw in add/remove programs list. Is that helped??

I forgot to tell that i am talking about recording via analog signal. I don't care about the digital port.


Virtualdub i mentioned because i can see there the interlaced fields (frame by frame). I know that there is a filter De-interlaced but the picture loses some smoothness and details.

I burn a video file in a dvd and i played in a regular DVD-player. The TV (classic CRT) shows interlaced (for less than a sec and not always,but there is)

I went to MPC options-->internal filters-->transform filters-->MPEG-2-->Deinterlaced filter-->BOB but i didn't see much difference.

Do i have to change something in the CCCP codec pack?? For instance FFDshow Video Decoder?? At the list "Codecs", MPEG2 format is DISABLE.

[jagabo]

Are you sure you're using the internal MPEG 2 decoder in MPC? MPC can use either its internal MPEG 2 decoder or an installed DirectShow decoder.

While playing an MPEG 2 video right click on MPC and select Filters (or select Play -> Filters from the menu). That will show you the list of filters being used to play the video. Select the MPEG 2 decoder, set the options there. If you're using ffdshow to decode MPEG 2 it will show up in the list as "ffdshow video decoder".

[Docoptik]

While playing an MPEG 2 video right click on MPC and select Filters (or select Play -> Filters from the menu). That will show you the list of filters being used to play the video. Select the MPEG 2 decoder, set the options there. If you're using ffdshow to decode MPEG 2 it will show up in the list as "ffdshow video decoder".

No it shows the internal mpeg-2 codec of MPC

[titigrom]

I forgot to tell that i am talking about recording via analog signal. I don't care about the digital port.

That's interesting ! Maybe you have to look after something like "interlace" in your capture settings and you have to pick up that. You mentioned "mainconcept mpeg2 encoder" : is that appears somewhere with the Total Media ?

Analog captures at full-D1 must be done with the interlaced settings on. I think your recorded files in MPEG-2 are progressive. More details can be found using MediaInfo. You should verify the size of your captured frame (720x576 in PAL at 25fps or 720x480 in NTSC at 30fps) too.

[jagabo]

The bob deinterlacer in MPC's internal MPEG 2 decoder works for me. Try exiting and restarting MPC?

[Docoptik]

I have downloaded the update version of MPC and now i can set filter to BOB.
At the previous version when i exit the MPC and run again i had to set it again.

I uninstalled mainconcept mpeg2 encoder (No it does not appear anywhere at TOTAL MEDIA)
Ok from media info for a test video i get this:

Format                           : MPEG-PS
File size                        : 57.2 MiB
Duration                         : 1mn 28s
Overall bit rate                 : 5 412 Kbps
Writing library                  : ArcSoft MPEG-2 PAL

Video
ID                               : 224 (0xE0)
Format                           : MPEG Video
Format version                   : Version 2
Format profile                   : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix          : Default
Duration                         : 1mn 28s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 4 974 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 7 500 Kbps
Width                            : 720 pixels
Height                           : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4/3
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Standard                         : PAL
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.480
Stream size                      : 52.5 MiB (92%)
Writing library                  : ArcSoft MPEG-2 PAL

Audio
ID                               : 192 (0xC0)
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 2
Duration                         : 1mn 28s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 224 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Video delay                      : -7ms
Stream size                      : 2.35 MiB (4%)

i noticed "Writing library : ArcSoft MPEG-2 PAL " and "Scan type : Interlaced", "Scan order : Top Field First "

How can i change this settings?
Is there another similar program to have the option to set interlaced filter or not to download and test it?

[jagabo]

i noticed "Writing library : ArcSoft MPEG-2 PAL " and "Scan type : Interlaced", "Scan order : Top Field First "

How can i change this settings?

Generally those settings would be in your capture software. Sometimes, even though the capture software doesn't have the settings, the actual library used does and you can find the settings in the Registry. I can't help you with that particular card though.

Generally, if you're going to make a DVD you don't want to deinterlace. All DVD players and all TVs support interlaced video.

[Docoptik]

And if i want to make it to avi file?
You know Xvid codec with Virtualdub.
That's the reason i started the topic. I used de-interlaced filter but the pic becoming little blur

This is a captured frame after i made it as dvd file with ConvertX toDVD (i use cartoon because is more sensitive in interlaced).

[jagabo]

To deinterlace for Xvid encoding I would try Donald Graft's Smart Deinterlace filter in Edge Directed Interpolate mode. That's about the best deinterlacer in VirtualDub. For really good deinterlacing you would want to use AviSynth's TempGaussMC_beta1(). It's really slow though.

There's one other possibility since you're in a PAL area. The video may simply have a phase shift. If so, you can easily go back to progressive frames. Open one of your videos in VirtualDub. Apply the Bob Doubler filter. Use Bob mode and the appropriate field order. If you find that every pair of fields are nearly identical you can restore the progressive frames with AviSynth's TDeint(). This would give the best results.

[Docoptik]

I tried WinDVR 3 and with mediainfo i saw that the Scan type is progressive.
So i will use WinDVR for Analog TV and Total media for Digital, Radio

[jagabo]

I tried WinDVR 3 and with mediainfo i saw that the Scan type is progressive. :o

That may not mean anything. MediaInfo is simply reporting the flags in the header -- the header may be wrong. How do the frames look after capture? I guess they look ok since you're not complaining about them!

[Docoptik]

Yep no interlaced at all. I used Virtualdub to see frame by frame. No problemo.
I believe it's stupid not to give you at least the option in the TotalMedia to write in interlaced or not.

[jagabo]

Yep no interlaced at all. I used Virtualdub to see frame by frame. No problemo.

You may be missing half the picture though.

There's another issue you should be aware of: VirtualDub does not handle interlaced YV12 sources correctly. The striping in the sample you posted looks like this error to me. You can get around this problem by using VirtualDubMod or using AviSynth to open the file and converting to YUY2 (ConvertToYUY2(interlaced=true)) before VirtualDub.