Deinterlace 60i - Workflow

[Sylus Harrington]

I am wondering what workflow others are using to deinterlace 60i footage using FCP or Compressor.

Currently I import 60i into FCP as Apple Pro Res 422. After editing is complete, send that to Compressor with the following deinterlace settings:

Frame Controls: On
Resize Filter: Best
Output Fields: Progressive
Deinterlace: Best (Motion Compensated)
Rate Conversion: Best (High Qual Motion Compensated)

What do others reccomend or use when deinterlacing 60i? Would love to know! Thanks..

[Robert Lane]

Because each camera has a different "look" to it there are differing methods to "de-i" your footage. Check the thread specific to your camera model (DVinfo has a category that matches every in-use camcorder on the planet) and see what other same-brand users are doing, that would be your starting point.

[Sylus Harrington]

Thanks for the reply. I figured this being a Mac NLE specific forum that it was the best place to ask a typical settings and work-flow question. Being that the de-i options in Compressor are very few, anyways. Will hunt elsewhere. Thanks again.

[Robert Lane]

You can certainly de-i either in Compressor (which offers deep and varied methods for that operation) or you can do it on the timeline in FCP in sequence settings.

However what's really important is understanding how this affects the footage from the camera you've shot from AND what in-camera settings were used to create the footage.

For example: Both Canon and Sony HDV cameras use a hybrid frame-removal method to simulate a progressive "film look" (they use different terminology for this option). And they use completely different algorithms to achieve this look but it's still based on an interlaced format - it's very confusing at first. So someone who shot on a Canon, shot in "frame" mode (I think it's called) and then also did a de-i in the timeline would end up with really bad looking footage, whereas someone who shot a Sony and shot Cineframe and did the same thing the footage might end up looking perfectly fine. (that's just an example)

If you don't find any satisfactory answers on the camera-specific forums let us know on this one and one of us will walk you through some options for doing it in FCS.