Problem with Jerky Motion in Final Video
 

Sorry if this has been covered before but i've had a good look and can't find any posts relating to this specific problem. (I've also posted this in the AVCHD section but thought that some people in here may be able to offer advice as well!).

The problem is when i output my final video and view it on my HD TV (Sony Bravia KDL-32D3000) the footage often looks jerky whenever there is motion in the video. So for example, if someone walks across the screen (with the camera stationary) then they don't move smoothly across the screen but instead 'jerk' backwards and forwards slightly at certain points. Or if i do a pan it looks jerky instead of nice and smooth as it did in the original footage (i.e with my camera connected directly to the TV via HDMI). Its not unwatchable but it definitely doesn't look good! In certain slow motion shots in the edit it looks really bad but then others look perfectly smooth. I'm thinking it must be some kind of frame rate issue but i can't see where i'm going wrong.

Here is my workflow:

Camera - Sony XR500E (European version)
Editing Software - Premiere CS4
Authoring Tool - Encore CS4

- I'm shooting on the XR500 in FH recording mode (1920x1080/50i).
- I import the m2ts files onto my PC using the picture motion browser software.
- I then convert the files using Neoscene (settings: Quality - medium, Output frame format - maintain source frame format) to AVIs
- I then import the AVIs into a sequence (settings: AVCHD 1080i25 (50i)) in Premiere and do the edit
- I export the sequence in Adobe Media encoder (settings: MPEG2, HDTV 1080i 25 High Quality)
- Write the file to a blu-ray disc in Encore
- Watch the blu-ray disc on my PS3 through the Sony TV and get the jerkiness described above (i get the same problem if i watch the mpg file on my PC monitor)

I also get the same problem if i send the timeline to encore and write it out as a standard DVD (both on my HD TV and an SD TV that i tried).

Can anyone spot anything i'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any help - this is driving me mad!

Cheers
Jamie

Backwards then forwards? Look for a field reversal issue: anywhere it asks for field order, make sure it says "Upper First." Possibly an Encore setting.

Thanks for the tip Adam but I've checked all my settings (in Premiere and Encore) and as far as i can tell they are all "Upper First". The only one that seems to be locked on "Lower First" is the setting for SD DVD output from Encore. Is standard definition video always encoded in "Lower First"? Is that part of the problem here?

BUt the blu ray i encoded was definitely set up in "Upper First" as well so that wasn't the problem with that.

Yeah, it was a long shot. Can you post screen grabs of your settings?

As long as you shoot, edit, and export, with the exact same settings, then you should be smooth sailing. Jerkyness generally results in shooting fps different from what your Premiere settings are.

Thanks for the posts guys. Sorry for the delay in replying - have been away from my PC for the last week. I was just about to go through my whole workflow and post screen grab of all my settings. I'm starting to think however that it may be a problem with my cineform AVI files.

Below are the settings i used in Neo Scene to convert the .m2ts files from my XR500E.

I've just gone back and checked the original cineform avi files that i converted with these settings (i.e. 'maintain source frame format') - when i play them in windows media player they look very 'flickery' as if it is flicking between frames or something. When i convert the original file again changing the 'Output frame format' option to 'Deinterlace' or 'Convert to 24p' the resulting files look much smoother in windows media player.

Do you think this is the source of the 'judder' problem in my final video? Should i de-interlace the m2ts files in Neo Scene before i edit in Premiere?