Unable to de-interlace using compressor

I am following the Help recommendations to the letter, trying to create a de-interlaced compressed .MOV file from a 422 ProRes which is a digital capture from a HiDef DV tape using an Atomos Ninja. The ProRes file is interlaced, even though it showed 1080p on the screen of the recorder.

I then tried to create a H.264 .mov SD file with de-interlacing, but no such luck.

Perhaps someone would like to test how to do this successfully, using a short file segment, and report back?

Thanks, in advance,

Out of curiosity, I now tried connecting the HDMI source coming out of the DV tape player, into a decimator.com/Products/MiniConverters/MD-HX/MD-HX.html cross converter, and then take the output from that into the Atomos Ninja.


Made a recording transfer this way, and it has no interlacing! Only, I have already recorded 6hrs of DV tapes, so I would need to re-record them for another 6 hrs! Not desirable, but do-able.

I would still love to know how I could transcode in the Mac instead.

Herein lies one of the many beauties of Quicktime 7. Command J (Show Movie Properties)


One I repeatedly use is Save as a Reference Movie. You can combine multiple separate or unrelated clips and play the video without having to render out another humongous file taking hours. Discs can equally be created from this 'reference' file.

Interesting reply. Thanks. However I have Quicktime 10.5 not 7, which doesn't have aCommand+J option or the Save As option. The Export As doesn't offer the same features, but I am trying to see how the export 1080p works, so it is doing that as I type this.

Any other ideas? Would Handbrake be able to do the de-interlacing well?

pszilard wrote: I am following the Help recommendations to the letter, trying to create a de-interlaced compressed .MOV file from a 422 ProRes which is a digital capture from a HiDef DV tape using an Atomos Ninja. The ProRes file is interlaced, even though it showed 1080p on the screen of the recorder.

I then tried to create a H.264 .mov SD file with de-interlacing, but no such luck.

Perhaps someone would like to test how to do this successfully, using a short file segment, and report back?

Thanks, in advance,

If the interlace was recorded as progressive, wouldn't the interlace be baked in ?
as in: it recorded both field on 1 progressive frame.
Does it show as interlace in Media Info?
How about : select clip->inspector->field dominance override->upper first ? in FCP X
Or the deinterlace checkbox ?

degeneric wrote: If the interlace was recorded as progressive, wouldn't the interlace be baked in ?
as in: it recorded both field on 1 progressive frame.
Does it show as interlace in Media Info?
How about : select clip->inspector->field dominance override->upper first ? in FCP X
Or the deinterlace checkbox ?

Yes that is a possibility. If it was captured and flagged progressive in the header it could be baked in interlacing. DV is interlaced so it ideally is captured as an NTSC interlaced file which you then can decide how to handle: deinterlace at playback (DVD player) or "hard deinterlace" it in a NLE.

As VTCMedia said pszilard needs to examine the ProRes file with a utility that shows the video header info. This will reveal whether it's flagged as interlaced or progressive. QT7 was a good tool but it's increasingly unavailable. He can use MediaInfo or Invisor: www.invisorapp.com

If the file has baked-in interlacing in a progressive wrapper, I'm not sure anything can be done except re-capture it properly. You could try playing it in VLC which has many deinterlace options and see if that helps. Or upload a clip to Youtube which is pretty good at deinterlacing (but there's lots of Youtube videos with baked-in interlacing it couldn't handle).

The cross-converter/HDMI/Atomos method works because the playback deinterlaces the DV tape, similar to watching a DVD. That deinterlaced output is then captured on the Atomos.

If the file was properly interlaced NTSC it could be dropped into a custom progressive 720x480 FCPX project and use the deinterlace filter in the inspector "settings" option. Upon export that will hard deinterlace the file. I've done that with lots of DV material and it looks pretty good. Either way it appears all the material may require re-capture.

With cases like this don't do a bunch of tapes - do one then inspect the subsequent workflow, inc'l video quality on various playback methods.

Well, I've tried every option on VLC and nothing worked properly, so I've re-captured the whole lot via the Decimator.

I am really surprised that it wasn't possible to just do it on the Mac. Ah, well.

You can download Quicktime 7 here - support.apple.com/kb/dl923?locale=en_US
You're on your own for getting a registration code, though.

Quicktime 7 was good, which is why it's being discontinued. Of course it wouldn't be an issue if QT 10 had the same capabilities. Apple doesn't want its users having such great features, it seems.

I downloaded Quicktime 7. Ran the installer, which didn't ask if I wanted to keep the existing newer version (v14?, I believe), however what I now have is not v7, but v10 and none of the options mentioned.

Apple released the PRO version code after they decided to stop supporting the app. Don't have it displace other versions if it requires 'installing'. Relocate other versions outside the application folder or, better yet, create a zip file of the other QT apps. This keep them from being jettisoned by the system during installations or updating if you're not paying attention.

I have all sorts of different versions scattered across 8 computers. Since the app is an Apple staple provided by the OS and no longer supported, I'm willing to Dropbox the sucker that has all the features as Apple typically removes access to previous versions that WORK and have better utility than the new releases.

I think Apple puts Quicktime 7 in the Utilities folder for whatever reason. Quicktime 10 will still be there in the Applications folder.

I didn't know that! You are absolutely correct. Thanks for the tip.

joema wrote:

degeneric wrote: If the interlace was recorded as progressive, wouldn't the interlace be baked in ?
as in: it recorded both field on 1 progressive frame.
Does it show as interlace in Media Info?
How about : select clip->inspector->field dominance override->upper first ? in FCP X
Or the deinterlace checkbox ?

If the file was properly interlaced NTSC it could be dropped into a custom progressive 720x480 FCPX project and use the deinterlace filter in the inspector "settings" option. Upon export that will hard deinterlace the file. I've done that with lots of DV material and it looks pretty good. Either way it appears all the material may require re-capture.

I tend to agree. I think it is best to capture the video with the interlacing. If you want to create DVD or even a 1080i Blu-ray you are good to go. If the client wants to post the video on social media I simply export at 60P instead of 30P using Premiere Pro. Motion graphics will playback smother at 60P and the image will look better. I can place the Hi-8 video files in a 1080 60P timeline and enlarge it by 80% and still have a a decent image. Human hair will look like hair instead of rabbit fur. The video below demonstrates using the Canopus ADVC 110 for video capture but the end result can be seen at 4:20. I am not saying my method is the best but just like joema I don't de-interlace during capture.