Jerky Output - please help
 

Does anyone know of a solution for a jerky output, it occurs with all camera movement and even with significant movement within the frame.

It makes the final film unwatcheable on anything bigger than a computer.

any advice would be welcomed with much gratitude.

Cheers, Alex

(sorry for repeating my post, but noone replied, maybe my original post put people off with it's length)

NTSC or PAL
 

I think I might have identified part of the problem.

I shot on a Handicam that was a gift while I was in America, it is therefore NTSC (I don't think i can change this to PAL)

But i'm now in the UK and all my computer settings are for PAL DV.

I believe I have captured NTSC DV with PAL DV settings (just using Movie Maker 2) and then exported as PAL which is causing a problem with the interlacing.

So I have 2 questions now.

1. Can I just fix the final output somehow? (I've tried deinterlacing using Combustion4 and that results in lost frames. i.e. oen frame, one black, one frame one black.)

2. Can I make an NTSC DVD that will work in the UK? (this would mean recapturing and then re-cutting and then re-exporting the whole thing, but if it has to be done..., please let there be a better way though)

Alex

I don't believe that you can fix anything once you have captured in the wrong format.
You can change the settings in the computer from PAL to NTSC. Depending on your OS (2000, XP, etc.) by searching the MSoft knowledge base in order to capture in the correct format.
After capture in NTSC, edit and burn to DVD. DVD players for the most part (the newer ones) will play either NTSC or PAL DVD's while outputing in the correct format for your region.
A second route would be to capture in NTSC and then use Canopus Procoder or similar to convert your capture to PAL and then edit and burn DVD in PAL.

Hi,

You CANNOT capture DV in the wrong format.

The "capture" is just a direct bit-for-bit transfer from the camcorder to the computer.

However, if you take NTSC DV and create PAL DV from it (such as you are doing via Movie Maker), it will look jerky because the NTSC video has 29.97 frames per second (30 for simplicity) but PAL has 25. So, Movie Maker has to some how map 30 frames onto 25. There are clever ways to do this and there are cheap 'n dirty. Movie Maker is doing the latter! (I have just verified this by capturing NTSC and saving to PAL in Movie Maker). It simply discards 1 in 6 frames. This is why the jerkiness appears to occur 5 times a second.

If you still have your Movie Maker project, simple change the output settings to NTSC (Tools/Options). Your problem has nothing to do with interlacing.

Re DVD, usually you can watch NTSC DVDs on PAL players. The only possible problem will be if it is connected to an old television that can't handle the different frame rate.

Well, you are right John, bad choice of wording on my part. I should have said "for editing in another TV standard" or something along those lines, (not enough coffee this morning after a looong Friday night).
Your results are the reason why I invested in Canopus Procoder quite a while ago for this type convertions and that tool has proven its weight in gold to me due to its excellent results. My sugestion aout capture->edit->burn in NTSC still stands and is also a good and proven alternative. If convert to PAL is absolutely needed then a cheap Pioneer DVD recorder with firewire in/out is just perfect for recapturing in NTSC, PAL, SECAM and all of their variations. The only thing needed then is to re-create the menues for the different TV standards. Then depending on how much you are getting paid and how often you will be doing this type of work you can determine your needs on this type of equipment/software expense.
The DVD players sold in the past three years in Europe have the ability to play PAL, NTSC, SECAM formats while outputing video/audio correctly for the country in which they were purchased. The TV set does not do any conversion at all except in those cases where these sets are multi format which is somewhat rare in the US although available and more expensive.
I hope this helps you out Alex.

thanks
 

thanks for your replies.

I really hope you are right John, that I can just output as NTSC and it wont be jerky, that's be about the best news I could get - as it means i have to redo the least.

I'm sure that anyone who watches it will have recently bought equipment, its a wedding video, I'm sure all new couples will get a new DVD player, right.

So if you guys are right, and I'm sure you are, then the dvd should work fine. I'll make one tomorrow, its 2:30 now (i might set the export off actually overnight, it takes a couple of hours) and then redo the dvd authoring, its a one menu thing, very basic, i might even be able to change the settings of the previous encore file.

I'll let you know if it works, thanks a lot guys.

Alex