I filmed a Wedding in HDV 1030i format with my Sony HVR - Z1U, imported all files as HDV, and sequence setting was for HDV 1030i. When I exported video for Blue Ray encoding, everything is fine and sharp, but, when I exported the same sequence for DVD MPEG 2 encoding (standard setting with PPRO preset), picture is very soft, almost blurry. I am using PPro 5.03. Any suggestion how to fix this problem?

Export to uncompressed SD, and then convert the file to MPEG-2. Premiere has problems with different field order on export, and applies a lousy deinterlace algorithm. This is the case only during export from HD timeline to SD MPEG-2 or DV files.

Thanks Bart, only option that I have is Uncompressed Microsoft AVI, is it right one? Are you using Media Encoder for conversion?
Regards, Rad

Yes and yes, although you can also import avi to Encore, and let it handle the transcoding. It uses the same engine as AME, so there will be no difference.

Make sure when export to mpeg2-dvd fields are set to upper.

Hi Bart and Ann,

I appreciate your insights on this matter. Two questions -

1) Could one export to the Lagarith lossless codec for SD, or must it be uncompressed?

2) Ann, are you suggesting Upper Field DVD for NTSC users, which is normally lower?

Thanks much

Jeff Pulera

Jeff,

I have been using VirtualDub to downscale my Matrox HDV files, using the Lanczos 3 filter, and exporting as an uncompressed avi.

I then use Procoder to convert this to a DVD compatible m2v.

You are starting with Upper Field First, so to avoid problems you need to stay with that right through the process.

Hi Bart and Ann,

I appreciate your insights on this matter. Two questions -

1) Could one export to the Lagarith lossless codec for SD, or must it be uncompressed?

2) Ann, are you suggesting Upper Field DVD for NTSC users, which is normally lower?

Thanks much

Jeff Pulera

Yes, do not change fields.
DVD can be either lower or upper regardless ntsc or pal
I frameserve to TMPGenc when downscaling HDV to SD.

Jeff, I have no experience with Lagarith codec. The easiest thing would be to check by exporting short part of your movie and examine the results.

I filmed a Wedding in HDV 1030i format with my Sony HVR - Z1U, imported all files as HDV, and sequence setting was for HDV 1030i. When I exported video for Blue Ray encoding, everything is fine and sharp, but, when I exported the same sequence for DVD MPEG 2 encoding (standard setting with PPRO preset), picture is very soft, almost blurry.

Try using tmpgenc, procoder or hcencoder to create a DVD compliant MPEG2 stream directly from the blu-ray render. Since you already have a blu-ray, it should be easy to downconvert it using one of these external encoders to create a high-quality DVD.

+1 for Tmpgenc. I spent way too much time trying to get a decent DVD from HD material until I came across Tmpgenc. My standards are pretty high and Tmpgenc gave me what I wanted with pretty much the "default" DVD settings. I ended up with a 1 hour DVD encoded at 8000kbs CBR and audio at 320kbs AC3. I now happily shoot 1080i HD material knowing it will look great on DVD.

Make sure when export to mpeg2-dvd fields are set to upper.

Usually, that is true. However, I found that Encore may flip the field order on any SD material that's upper field first (since that program expects all SD material to be lower field first), especially if the program is forced to (or the user chooses to) recompress the video within Encore. This is why I am testing my sample videos for this possibility.

As it turned out, this field flipping only occurs if the recompression is performed using Encore's default "automatic using project settings". If I wanted to create a custom preset, I can select upper field first in the field order properties.

Encore forces the HDV file to lower on import via DL.
Then in the export you are forcing it back to upper.
Have a look at the summery (source and output) in the export settings of Encore.

I wasn't using Dynamic Link. I was importing a UFF SD file directly into Encore without using DL.

I double-checked again, and now I see that it did flip the field order to lower field first. No wonder why my results weren't as good as previous attempts when I manually converted upper to lower intentionally via HD2SD, AVIsynth and VirtualDub. I now have a feeling that the field order of any upper-field-first Encore-ready MPEG-2 DVD files could also be flipped to lower field first on import into Encore (even directly, without using Dynamic Link).

I just checked with an already prepared MPEG-2 file, and it turned out that on all DVD projects in Encore, the field order on all upper-field-first video is flipped to lower-field-first on import.

What all this means is that Adobe (or at least Encore) wants all interlaced DVDs to be lower field first on export.

I knew it was flipping when using DL.
I did not realise it was doing that also to ready made upper mpeg2-dvd files.
I never checked.

Thus, if one were to use Encore to author menu-based DVDs, then the only workaround to this would be to import a video file that had already been converted from upper field first to lower field first into Encore. The upper field first HD original may be converted to lower field first SD either by importing the video file into Premiere Pro and then exporting to lower field first SD (this will invoke the MPE GPU acceleration since scaling/resizing will be involved), or better yet using a third-party program or combination of third-party programs (such as the AVIsynth/VirtualDub/HD2SD script combination mentioned several times in these forums) to convert UFF HD to LFF SD. Otherwise, if a UFF file is imported into Encore directly, the wrong fields will be read, resulting in the soft images.

I filed a bugreport a while ago on this.

Weird, I have been using UFF SD files in Encore for quite some time and did not notice any problems with them, unlike exporting LFF SD DV files from Premiere from UFF HD source (note, it's not only HDV, but also XDCAM EX and any other UFF HD format).

Its not just HDV (which I use) but all kind of footage with UF.

I can also recommend Tmpeg. (Been using TMPEG 4.0 Xpress for a while now for HD to SD). I edit my footage in Sony Vegas, render to a Cineform master and then convert to SD in TMPEG. Nice consistent results.

Marc

Weird, I have been using UFF SD files in Encore for quite some time and did not notice any problems with them, unlike exporting LFF SD DV files from Premiere from UFF HD source (note, it's not only HDV, but also XDCAM EX and any other UFF HD format).

Here is a test:

Try importing your UFF SD files into an Encore DVD project. Then, try to create a custom preset for your export format. Look at the video properties box. You'll find that the source field order has been flipped to LFF upon import - and there is absolutely no way at all whatsoever in Encore to re-interpret the field order as UFF. This means that Encore will basically read the wrong fields, resulting in the (very) soft (and often very blurry) images when the video is played back.

This might be a bug only in displaying the correct field order, not in reading it or encoding. I don't seem to notice any problems after transcoding UFF SD file in Encore, as opposed to transcoding from UFF HD to LFF SD.

I have been using UFF SD files as a workaround to precisely this issue for over a year now. I am pretty familiar with the problem, and from my experience, there is no quality loss when encoding UFF SD files in Encore. The best way to see it is in a credit roll or in any motion graphics element. In my experience it works on both PC and Mac.

However, I'm talking about CS5, not CS5.5 here. CS5.5 might have introduced another bug that I'm not aware of.

There are changes in Encore between the version which comes with Premiere CS5, and that with Premiere CS5.5, but I do not think this is one of them. I have never noticed this field order change, but I am in PAL land - could this be a factor here?

Also I do not use AME to create my DVD legal files, I use Procoder 3, which allows full control over all the parameters.

This might be a bug only in displaying the correct field order, not in reading it or encoding. I don't seem to notice any problems after transcoding UFF SD file in Encore, as opposed to transcoding from UFF HD to LFF SD.

I have been using UFF SD files as a workaround to precisely this issue for over a year now. I am pretty familiar with the problem, and from my experience, there is no quality loss when encoding UFF SD files in Encore. The best way to see it is in a credit roll or in any motion graphics element. In my experience it works on both PC and Mac.

However, I'm talking about CS5, not CS5.5 here. CS5.5 might have introduced another bug that I'm not aware of.

I take back some of what I stated. The field flipping on import of all UFF SD material occurs primarily at NTSC resolutions and frame rates. This means that all 480-line 59.94 field-per-second UFF SD material gets flipped to LFF on import into Encore. (Though technically, NTSC has 486 lines, not 480 lines, and is UFF at that 486-line resolution. But when consumer video recorders came into existence, they had to cut off six of the lines (three from the top and three from the bottom), making it 480-line LFF.)

PAL, on the other hand, has a field refresh rate of 50 fields per second. Unless Dynamic Link messes that up, all PAL SD material is assumed to be UFF as far as Encore is concerned. This could, however, cause problems with PAL DV material as many PAL DV camcorders record LFF instead of UFF.

It does not make any difference if its ntsc or pal, when using DL with upper field in the timeline, which is usually HD, or mpeg from dvd camera's or maybe Matrox still captures in upper? it flips the fields to lower.
If one encodes outside Encore its not an issue.