How to proceed?

[fatcharlie]

I am trying to convert some Sopranos DVDs to mp4. My first go at it I extracted each episode from the DVD as .d2v using DGIndex with Honor pull down flags on. I then used two different methods to Detelecine, TIVTC and the Decomb filter from Graft. My scripts were as follows:

TIVTC:
LoadPlugin("C:\DVDTools\AviSynth\Plugins\DGDecode.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\DVDTools\AviSynth\Plugins\TIVTC\TIV TC.dll")
MPEG2Source("C:\Movies\The Sopranos\S04\E01\E01.d2v")
TFM(order=1)
TDecimate()

Decomb:
LoadPlugin("C:\DVDTools\AviSynth\Plugins\DGDecode. dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\DVDTools\AviSynth\Plugins\Decomb.dl l")
MPEG2Source("C:\Movies\The Sopranos\S04\E01\E01.d2v")
AssumeTFF()
Telecide(guide=1,post=2,vthresh=50)
Decimate()

I loaded each script separately into VDub and saved as lossless avi using Lagarith. When I looked at the resulting avi files I still had a lot of interlaced frames.


My next attempt I loaded the vob files into DGIndex, turned on Forced Film, saved as .d2v. Then I loaded the d2v into VDub, with no filters at all, and again saved as lossless avi using Lagarith. The reulting avi looked totally fine, with no interlaced frames.

I am unsure which method is correct. Do I try to tweak the parameters of TIVTC, or Decomb to lose the interlaced frames, or is using Forced Film better?

On a side note, I was converting to lossless avi, so I could use MEGUI to mux the video and audio together and encode as mp4. It was the method I used for Survivor which was interlaced video, and I was using QTGMC filter to deinterlace. If my steps for the Sopranos are wrong I am open to suggestions on the proper way to proceed with the conversion.

Thanks.

Using DGIndex's analysis, it reported back 97.82% film, which is why I opted for Forced Film.

[manono]

If the film percentage is 100%, or even close to that, your best bet is to make the D2V project file using Force Film. With the high film percentage you mentioned, if that remeining 2.18% is in the black frames at the beginning or end, you're good to go. If it's at chapter points or an opening logo, an IVTC will help (after making the D2V using 'Honor Pulldown Flags'):

TFM(D2V="C:\Path\To\Video.d2v")
TDecimate()

You can check the D2V itself for an idea of what's going on and why it's not 100% film. I don't use MeGUI, but if it accepts AviSynth scripts as input, you're wasting time making an intermediate lossless AVI.

[fatcharlie]

Thanks for the reply manono. What exactly in the d2v file would I be looking for to see if that 2.18% is in the black frames, or chapter points/opening logo? Would a parse of the d2v file make it easier to determine?

[manono]

Here's a D2V file I used to illustrate in a different post:

900 5 0 0 0 0 0 30 30 d0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 503008 0 0 0 72 73 d0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 1036675 0 0 0 72 73 d0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 1549542 0 0 0 72 73 d0 f1 f2 e3
900 5 0 1799132 0 0 0 30 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 2254524 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 2612255 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 2956931 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 3314727 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 3711243 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 4096495 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 4474771 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 4822263 0 0 0 73 70 d1 f2 f3 e0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2
900 5 0 5164059 0 0 0 73 70 d1 b2 b2 a2 b2 b2 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 5528824 0 0 0 72 73 d0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 5859419 0 0 0 72 73 d0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 6168062 0 0 0 72 73 d0 f1 f2 e3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 6477409 0 0 0 72 73 d0 f1 f2 e3
900 5 0 6654807 0 0 0 70 71 d3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1 f2 f3 e0
900 5 0 7073722 0 0 0 71 72 d3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1 f2 f3 e0
d00 5 0 7503710 0 0 0 f1 f2 d3 f0 f1 e2 f3 f0 e1
900 5 0 7831852 0 0 0 72 73 d1 e3 ff

FINISHED 95.83% FILM

The '2's I boldfaced indicate where it drops to video (is hard telecined) in the middle of the video, and needs to be IVTC'd as I described earlier. If you find 2 2 2 2 (or 0 0 0 0) at or very near the beginning, or at or very near the end, they're most likely black frames and it can be safely force filmed. If you see that kind of thing in the middle of the video, it may be at a chapter stop, and that part should be IVTC'd. By using the D2V inside of TFM, it accepts information from the D2V file, in effect force films the soft telecined parts (where it goes 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3), and just IVTC's the hard telecined parts (the 2 2 2 2). This saves your IVTC from making mistakes and the encoding goes a bit faster than if it has to IVTC the whole thing.

Me, just to be on the safe side, when the film percentage is less than 100% I make the D2V using 'Honor Pulldown Flags' and use that script I gave earlier.

[fatcharlie]

Ok, thanks.

I was looking at the d2v parse, and it seems like there are sections when there is a "still shot", or no movement for a few seconds, it drops out of 3:2, otherwise in between the opening and ending credits, it's mostly 3:2.

I will use the TFM with the d2v argument and check the results. MeGUI does accept avs scripts so I can feed that code you wrote directly into MeGUI.