Field Order for Quicktime video?

dalemccl · Post by **dalemccl** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:48 am

I have been working with AVCHD in Pro X2, but now am working on a project with video and stills taken by my son on his point-and-shoot camera (a Casio, I think). The stills are .jpg's. The videos are .mov Quicktime NTSC. When I right click on a video thumbnail in Pro X2, it says the video is 24 bit, 640x480, 25 frames per second, and the compresson is DVI IMA. There is no indication of the field order like there is when I check the properties of my AVCHD video.

My question is: when I create a standard DVD containing the .jpg stills and the Quicktime video clips, which field order should I choose in the Burn Disc options?

Oh, also what happens to the 25 fps video when I create a DVD where the only option for frame rate that was available is 29.97? Isn't 25 fps the PAL rate (he purchased the camera at a U.S. retail store)?

pjc · Post by **pjc** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:39 am

The quicktime video will be progressive ie full frame (this is because it is really a series of still images strung together). Hence the field order will not matter when producing interlaced video on DVD.
The 25fps will be converted to 29.97 for the NTSC DVD and you will notice some judder especially on panning shots. It may be preferable to burn in PAL if your destination DVD player can play PAL. PAL countries are lucky in that virtually all DVD players will play both but I know this is not necessarily so in reverse.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:51 pm

Yes, 25fps is PAL. Is there a setting in the cam that can be changed?

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:16 pm

It's not a camcorder, it's a stills camera shooting video. I doubt it can be changed.
I'd just add it to the ntsc timeline and let VS do it's work.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:42 pm

I have had 4 digital still cameras -- a Sony, a Fujifilm, and two Canons, and all have, in the Menu set-up allowed me to choose between PAL and NTSC. So I would be surprised if Casio did not offer the same choice.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:13 am

I've never used a stills for video, too many camcorders!!!
Let's see what the OP can do.

pjc · Post by **pjc** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:05 pm

Ken Berry wrote:I have had 4 digital still cameras -- a Sony, a Fujifilm, and two Canons, and all have, in the Menu set-up allowed me to choose between PAL and NTSC. So I would be surprised if Casio did not offer the same choice.

Are you sure you are talking about changing the properties of the video files as they are captured or playing them back over composite out?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:37 pm

If you change the menu settings, it obviously changes the format in which the video is filmed in.

pjc · Post by **pjc** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:45 pm

Ken Berry wrote:If you change the menu settings, it obviously changes the format in which the video is filmed in.

Interesting Ken,
Can you tell me the model of the Canon cameras so I can have a look at the specs? I am interested in which series I should look at for this feature as my Canon does not have that ability.
Thanks

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:10 pm

One is a now a little old -- Canon EOS Rebel 300D digital SLR, but I imagine the more recent Rebels also have dual format. And the other is one that entered the market about a year ago: the Canon PowerShot SX100IS, which I have to say is one of the nicest little cameras I have ever used (8 MP/10x optical zoom but great stability control).

pjc · Post by **pjc** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 12:14 am

Ken Berry wrote:If you change the menu settings, it obviously changes the format in which the video is filmed in.

Hi Ken,

I have had a look at the video specs of the Canon powershot you mentioned and they are similar to my Canon S1IS. It captures as 30fps.

My still camera works like this:
In Movie Mode the files are captured in motion Jpeg which as you know is just a string of stills grouped together. They capture at either 30fps or 15 fps. The PAL or NTSC setting is for when the camera outputs a video signal to play back directly onto a Television. Then the appropriate colour filter is applied and the frame rate is changed also for playback. The original file is still 30fps. When working with these files downloaded to PC, the frame rate is still 30 fps. I make NTSC interlaced video files from this footage as the frame rate almost matches and the playback is smoother. The colour differences between PAL and NTSC, although noticeable side by side, are not significant to favour PAL and so I use NTSC format to preserve frame rate similarities.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 1:55 am

I bow to your superior experience in this!

The fact of the matter is that with all those digital still cameras, I simply don't use their video capacity. I have a range of video cameras which do a better job!

However, I just did a brief video with the PowerShot set to PAL, and confirmed what you say in VS12 -- namely that it is nonetheless 30 fps. Curious.

I wonder how it works out the PAL output when directly linked to a TV? Simply drop 5 fps? That would make it jerky, I would have thought... Incidentally, I was surprised at how good the MJPEG quality from it is. I have edited mjpeg from a friend's camera -- not taking much notice of the 30 fps since he was Canadian and hence had it set to NTSC! But I don't recall the quality as being quite as good. I think I still have that footage on another computer so I might dig it out and compare...

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:03 pm

It is surprising how good the video quality from digicams can be.

In fact I researched video quality extensively before settling on a Panasonic FZ8 for myself and an FX10 for my daughter. They both use mjpeg compression and a decent video bitrate, so the footage, as well as being of good quality (with an option for 848 x480 too) is also quite easily edited.

The optical image stabilisation on the Panasonics is unbeatable too, far better than on any camcorder I've tried.

I think many people might judge digicam video from makes that use mpeg4 compression - and that is usually lower quality and difficult to edit.

The one let down is generally sound quality, however, and only a few digicams allow zooming whilst shooting video.

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:04 pm

Duplicate post edited! Just experienced the appearance of the Debug Mode fairy....