[HD->SD workflow] Question about TFF, color space and CineForm codec
 

In the last weeks I've read lots of threads in this forums about HD->SD workflows. I found the VDub workflow with blend-deinterlacing and smartrezing or that of Dan Isaacs with AviSynth to be quite good. Since today I try CineForm NeoScene codec after some hints here and here.

But I am not sure with all aspects, there are some things that I simply do not fully understand and I could not find answers with search function.

1.) Rendering from Premiere Pro CS4 (EX1 project with 1080/50i)
Since debugmode frameserver does not work anymore with CS4 there is no frameserver for delivering cut video to VDub, AviSynth and/or TMPGenc.
Because of that I now render an intermediate avi file harddisk. As far as I know HD-video is TFF. But when I choose "Microsoft avi" and then select a lossless codec (HuffYuv, Lagarith, CineForm HD) it does not work with "Top first" - this results in black videos only, whatever I try.
When I set to "bottom first" (which is wrong for my taste) I get an avi with contents, but there seems to be a black 1pixel-line at the very bottom (visible in PP timeline preview and when playing avi with VLC). What am I doing wrong, please?

2.) Color space
As far as I understood HD-footage (that of EX1 too) is Rec.709 color space. I do encode with TMPGEnc XPress 4.0 which is cabable of RGB only (I think). When do I change color space for best results, please? When exporting intermediate avi (export to 24bit or 32bit?), in AviSynth-script (first change to Rec.601 and as final line convert to RGB) or when?

3.) CineForm deinterlacing
When I want CineForm codec to do the deinterlading, what is the correct setting, please? Using "Video Format = Progressive" in Cineform 4.8.6-setting while exporting as Microsoft avi from PP? But I do not want to let Premiere Pro do any of the deinterlacing (its said that PP looses half of resolution), so I would keep "interlaced, TFF or BFF" in the dialog. This cannot be correct: setting the codec to progressive and at the same time setting export to interlaced.

So, please, do you have any hints for me? Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks a lot in advance,
Markus

P.s.: at the moment I shoot in 1080/50i since it looks much sharper on 50'' plasma TV. I know, most prefer 720/50p but it does not look that sharp. I need HD and SD from the same footage.