How to quickly tell if CF video is I-Frame or not.
 

David, I have a question. I've been trying to find a quick tool that tells whether video we've done is I-frame only only or not. G-Spot shows nothing about it that I can tell, neither does VD or anything else.

We have a mixture of stock that is both ways and really need something that tells which way it is so we can re-convert whatever we are currently working on.

Any suggestions as to a quick (and free) tool that does it?

The only reason to worry about I-frame, is for 3D work, otherwise is it completely transparent all 99% of video applications. Use VirtualDub, is will mark I-frame with a 'K' (for Key frame) and P frames with nothing.

That's exactly what I was looking for and could find no info anywhere!

Tnx!

For our output for international dubbing and subtitle translators, the frame accuracy of the I-Frame only in First Light is crucial. We need every frame properly referenced to our target master AVI, and I-frame only is the only way we know how to do using FL for the different videos. This was especially true for our material that was CF'ed from HDV tape, since FL didn't show the timecode at the same rate for that HDV material, unless we re-output it as I-Frame only.

Stehpen or Dave while we are at it. What tool tells you if CF file is interlaced or progressive. I have some CF files that I do not know if they are progressive or not. G-spot does not seem to give the info on a cf file.

Bruce, here's a post from another forum that tells you why this is a complicated subject:

How can I tell if a video is interlaced?

There are many things to consider and no hard answers to that question...unfortunately.

As the link you attached states, the only way that you can tell with an AVI file, is by looking at the individual frames with something like VirtualDub.

I think I suggested this to David Newman before, but with all the extra metadata that Cineform is putting in the files these days, they should consider adding an interlaced/progressive metadata entry. Now, no NLE would be able to directly use this information, since they don't read the Cineform special metadata, but at least the information could be displayed in First Light. Of course, this approach only would work if the user explicitly stipulated "Interlaced" or "Progressive" output when either capturing or converting to CFHD. The "Automatic" setting wouldn't be of any help. BTW, there are other threads that discuss this issue and also the related issue of determining whether a file is 24p in a 60i stream.

Good idea Jay, I second the motion. Maybe it'll start adding something useful to us down the line...

One more comment:
In VD, you have to "frame by frame advance" to see if it's I-frame only. If it is, every frame has the K. If not, every other frame has the K.

I can recommend the Viewfields plugin for Virtualdub:

[NEW LINK] http://www.geocities.com/siwalters_uk/viewfields.html

This plugin separates each video frame into two half-height "fields" and stacks one above the other - if they are identical the frame is progressive, if they differ you'll easily see which order the fields are in.

Graham, the downlink is no longer working for that file now. Guess they pulled it.

Oops - sorry. Here's a link to the plugin developer's webpage. The Virtualdub version is on the left, the Avisynth version is on the right.

http://www.geocities.com/siwalters_uk/viewfields.html

Thanks for the new link, Graham, but apparently that filter is still 32bit and I'm running the 64bit version of VD. I tried loading it from the Plugin directory and directly and it doesn't accept it.

OK, sorry. I'm on 64bit Win7, but I 'm using the 32bit version of VDub.

(You could likely have both VDub versions on your system, since VDub doesnt install any dlls)

Here's a slightly more elaborate plugin for Sony Vegas Pro:

Sony Creative Software - Forums - Vegas Pro - Video Messages