Field Dominance Question for Sequence

I shot my video in DVCPro50 format at 30p. I have edited my video in a DV50 sequence. I am ready to take to a production house to be transferred to BetaSP. In the past with other videos I take the finished sequence and nest it into a Uncompressed 8-bit NTSC sequence and that is what I give to production house. In this Uncompressed 8-bit sequence should I select Field Dominance: None or Field Dominance: Lower (even)?
Thanks for your help!

If someone could help me out to confirm this. I would rather do this right than find out when my commercial is broadcast that I messed up the field dominance.
My final sequence is being transferred to BETASP. I take to the production house an uncompressed 8 bit NTSC sequence.
If I understand this correctly my uncompressed sequence will have a field dominance of lower if the original footage was SD.
If my original footage was HD than my uncompressed sequence should have the field dominance set to upper.
So the uncompressed sequence that is transferred to BETASP has a field dominance set by the original footage?
Thanks for taking the time with this.
Darrin

Similar Messages

Basic Field Dominance question

In Tom Wolsky's FCE HD3.5 Editing Workshop book (xlnt), he mentions setting Field Dominance to None when working in 24p, but I'm unclear what this does and whether it applies to my situation:
I'm shooting 24p HDV on Canon HV20, exporting to QT movie, burn in iDVD. DVD to be played on generic DVD players - not going to Sundance.
Also, if I should be setting Field Dominance to None, when should this be done - before rendering, before exporting to QT, or ???

Most consumer cameras don't shoot true 24p. They shoot pseudo 24p recorded at 29.97. The material is still interlaced with a pulldown cadence. Pull the canvas up to 100% and step through the video at a point where there is some motion. If the HV20 uses the normal 2:3:2:3 pulldown you'll see a cadence of two frames without interlacing, then three frames with interlacing, then two without and so on. That's how movies are mashed onto television; four frames of film are spread over five frames or 10 fields of video. Changing the sequence field dominance to none doesn't affect the captured material in any way; it only affects how anything that needs to be rendered in the sequence is rendered. It should render it without interlacing.

Field dominance setting for progressive footage?

I'm still not sure about this subject.
I film with a Canon HF100. This is shooting progressive footage. I use a Imac, therefor the footage will be imported from a achvd to .mov files.
When I import it in FCE it will give automatically a fielddominance of upper odd. I heard I had to change it to fielddominace none. By mistake I edited a project without changing from Upper odd to none and there was nothing wrong with the project.
1. Is this true?
2. And why do I have to change it? What's the (technical) reason (try to understand it) and why doens't this go automatically?
Thank you!!

1) yes
2) ... field-dominance is a matter with interlaced footage ... in the older days, the many lines of a frame were splitted into two fields: even and odd lines. and funny as engineers often like to be, the odd lines (1,3,5,7,9, ... = don't neccessarily have to be the first (=dominant) field (.dv for instance: 'first' field is the even one 2,4,6,...)
progessive has no fields = no field dominance
but ..
some cams read out the chip progressive, but record the p frame as two identically i-fields! ... phewwww
summary:
if it works, don't change it ...

Field Dominance settings for rough edit

I'm working on a project that will be finalized in HD elsewhere from a variety of sources, HDcam, Targa files, SD, etc. I'm doing the rough edit and will export an EDL (possibly through Automatic Duck to be finalized in Avid, not sure about that yet). I'm not doing any effects, just getting the right clips in the right order. I'm working from DVcam dubs only (firewire import)of the source material. I know the post house already has some of the HD material on hand and it is upper field dominant. DVcam of course is lower field dominant. Do I need to change the settings to upper field or not set, or is this something the post house will deal with when it imports the final video?

Don't change any settings... it won't affect the EDL anyway.
Jerry

Offline To Online Changes Field Dominance Settings?

Hi - I have an offline DV PAL sequence that I am taking online to 10-Bit Uncompressed PAL.
To my understanding PAL is Upper field dominance, and all my sequences and source files in the offline DV project are upper. However when I check the Uncompressed online project, many of the files (subclips especially) are set to Lower.
My question is this - since it's easy to change fd for clips by just right clicking in the browser, if I just set the incorrect clips' Field Dominance to Upper and make sure the shift fields filter is not enabled, can I be certain there will be no field dominance issues?
Maybe more importantly - what is the best way to determine if you have any field dominance issues? Is simply watching it on a monitor/television going to be obvious if something is wrong? Any way to check on the computer?
Thanks everybody,
Jason
G5 Quad 2.5Ghz, 30" Cinema HD Display, Final Cut Studio, CS2 Suite Mac OS X (10.4.9) Powerbooks, other Powermacs, iBooks, iMacs, etc...

Field dominance depends on the format, not the standard (pal,ntsc).
DV is lower field dominant be it PAL or NTSC, and uncompressed is upper field dominant.
For true monitoring, you'll need to view your image through an external broadcast monitor... a CRT television should be suitable for monitoring field issues (i believe... i'm sure i'll be corrected if that's wrong).
The only obvious thing to look for is 'combing'... the lines (fields) that appear around the edges of a subject on the screen, especially when there is a lot of on-screen movement.
Just out of curiosity... why are you taking a DV sequence into 10-bit uncompressed? Doing graphics etc?
J

Will setting sequence field dominance to "NONE" effect resolution?

First, thanks all for the title help. It looks like i might have it licked. From this point however comes a new question.
The only way to keep my titles clear and free from flicker is to set the imported livetype .mov file's field dominance to "none" and place it in a sequence that also has a field dominance set to "none". Great. now i need to put the title sequence on my master time line (project time line of 1hr 20min) which exists in a sequence set to the standard field dominance of "Lower" and which is made up of an hour and a half worth of clips that are all set to "lower" as well.
My question(s) is this-
While i understand what field dominance is doing as an upper and lower, what does none do?
Currently the project (under the settings above) is rendering as i have changed the master sequence's FD setting to none. I haven't changed the individual clip settings to none due to my ignorance on the issue, only the title sequence has the same settings. Put another way- I'm currently rendering a sequence that has its field dominance set to "none". On this sequence, i have several clips that have their field dominance set to "lower", and one clip (my livetype title clip) has its field dominance set to "none". I've done all this in order to prevent flicker on my livetype scrolling titles.
Q: Should i do this?
Q: Will i suffer a loss of resolution on the clips that have a field dominance that is different from their sequence?
Q: Will keeping them different effect the export and eventual dvd burn of the project?

Your better off NOT making a movie from LiveType, but importing the LiveType project file and rendering in FCP. Leave your field dominance settings to match your clips. If you set to NONE, that is for Progressive scanned footage. You will lose clarity on your clips. But don't just ask and listen here... do it. Change the sequence from Lower to None and look very closely at a still frame. You will see that you have lost the "jaggies" but at the cost of edge clarity.

Basic FCP Sequence Settings question for 1080 footage w/ 7D

OK. So maybe it's the fact I've been working for 18 hours straight and my mind is partially play-dough, but I'm thoroughly confused right now by what I think may be the dumbest question ever.
Anyway... here's my problem and my workflow.
PROBLEM:
Stupid black box above and below my 1080 footage after I export to QT out of FCP (this box never existed in my 720 footage)
WORKFLOW:
- I have 1080/30p footage from a Canon 7D and Rebel T2i
- Converted to Prores 422 in MPEG Streamclip (I can never keep the file system intact to use the FCP EOS plugin. I need to work on that)
- Imported into FCP7
1080 SEQUENCE SETTINGS:
Frame size: 1920x1080 HDTV 1080 (16:9)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
Field Dominance: None
Editing Timebase: 29.97
Compressor: HDV1080p30 (Also tried ProRes)
Quality: 100 percent
After I export to Quicktime with current settings, the video plays back with a small black bar above and below the footage. Weird. This seems kind of normal to me, except these bars never existed when I edited in 720. Not that it looks bad, I'm just confused why the bars are there when they weren't there in 720.
720 SEQUENCE SETTINGS:
Frame size: 1280x720 HDTV 720p (16:9)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
Field Dominance: None
Editing Timebase: 29.97
Compressor: HDV 720p30
Quality: 100 percent
When I export this, no black bars above and below.
So why -- If my settings are basically the same except for the 1080/720 substitution -- do I get the above/below black boxes for 1080 and I don't get them for 720?
I don't think I want the box. Don't like the box. The box is bad. I think.
Thanks.

I'll send my thanks over here, too, Shane. Posting on multiple sites because project is due today.
Hopefully this will be a lesson learned and my sequence settings are point-on from here on out.
If anyone else is reading this and has a similar problem, though, Shane came up with the solution:
"Highlight all the footage you pasted...then right-click and choose REMOVE ATTRIBUTES. Then check BASIC MOTION." After checking basic motion, you also have to check distort.
And if the quicktime inspector doesn't read out 1920x1080, don't worry about it and just trust FCP.
Thanks for the input, all.

Field Dominance problem and questions

I am trying to capture 24p Advanced DVCAM material. I've been using the easy setup. I've tried test captures of about 15 seconds (using capture now) which come into FCP with a field Dom. of NONE and load into my 23.98 sequence timeline with a olive green render indicator (I know I can edit with that as that is just a playback resolution downgrade). If I rewind to approx. the same start point on the tape and capture a 9 minute clip, it comes in with a field dominance of EVEN and loads into the exact same timeline with an orange render indicator. First off, that seems odd to me. Secondly, I've read in other forums that there is a possibility that I can change the field dom. of my longer clips and/or my sequence, but I'm not at all clear on it. Will changing the field dom. allow me to edit w/o render indicators? Do you think that it is the field dom. issue that is causing the render indicators' to appear, or could it be other issues. It seems to me that the fact that I can get the short clips to load with and olive green line, means that it probably is the field dom. issue that is causing my difficulties. Is there an error in my logic? I'm also unclear if I am able to tell FCP not to render in interlaced mode. Is that something I can do? Does it even apply to my situation?

Jerry,
Thanks for the reply. I've been "assured" (who knows what that means) that the material was shot advanced, but it might make sense for me to do a test to see if Cinema Tool pulldown removal solves my problem. Can I use the pulldown removal option in the FCP tools menu after I've captured or do I need to use Cinema Tool.
I must say I'm still baffled about my different length clips capturing with different properties even though I never changed any settings between captures. Any hunches on your part about that anomaly?

Field Dominance Setting question

Hi
Just read an article suggesting setting the field dominance setting to 'none' to reduce the interlace on progressive footage on renders?
I have checked the FCP manual and it doesn't specify a prefered setting for 1080i50, which I have been filming in.
Could anyone clarify or suggest pro's and con's of the field dominance settings options?
thanks

For 1080i50, you should leave field dominance at Upper. The sequence field dominance (field order is a more accurate term) should be the same as that of the source footage. Stick to that rule and you'll be OK. For progressive sources it's None. For interlaced HD format sources, it's Upper. For SD interlaced sources it's Lower.
Now, in the case of 1080p25...it's progressive, but it can be carried on a 1080i50 timeline with no ill effects EXCEPT that transitions, moving titles, and perhaps certain other effects will render with the normal interlacing of the sequence format. The fix is to change the sequence field dom setting to None. Hope that makes sense.

Field Order/Dominance question

I've been noticing that spots I've produced that air on my local cable network appear to be having problems with jerky movement of elements created in Motion. I thought that maybe the field order was set wrong on my Motion projects. (I should add that I'm doing "the big no-no" by only monitoring these on my computer and not on a TV monitor. I know, I'll have to remedy that someday.) Anyway, I'm using the "NTSC Broadcast SD" preset and that means field order is lower/even. I'm definitely rendering these out with field rendering on (Apple ProRes, btw) as I can see the interlace combing when viewing the output file.
I thought I'd try an experiment by creating a Motion project that would expose interlacing problems in the worst way and then render it out of Motion three ways: lower, upper and none. I then encoded these to mpeg-2 using Squeeze and burned them to a DVD (in DVDSP) to view on my consumer DVD player and SD television. (Remember, that's the only way I can view them played back interlaced...) To my surprise both the upper and lower movies looked terrible and the one rendered with no field dominance looked the best.
What gives? Any ideas? Does this seem right?
Thanks!
--Kurt Cowling

Wow Iain, you know waaaay more about this than I do. In fact, I asked a question in the iDVD area of this board many moons ago regarding whether or not there was some sort of metadata or tag that let iDVD know if the incoming file was interlaced or progressive and the response was basically "I don't know for sure, but I don't think so".
Anyway, I can confirm what you say regarding the output of ProRes files. The content is interlaced, but when clicking the deinterlace button in the advanced area of QuickTime player nothing happens.
I tried as you suggested and opened the "Advanced..." area of the output settings in Motion and found that interlace was indeed not checked in the ProRes settings. When I output a file after checking that box I can also confirm that the deinterlace button in QT player did actually deinterlace the display of the file.
I normally output my Motion projects in several layers and bring them back into FCP (as rendered video, not Motion files) to composite them with the underlying camera footage. (Makes later changes and updates easier to deal with for my workflow.) I then export the composite out of FCP as uncompressed SD and then proceed to encode for FTP delivery from there (usually H.264). I opened a recent uncompressed file that was output from FCP and found that it suffered from the same problem, namely that the file was not tagged as interlaced, even though the content was interlaced.
I then opened one of the H.264 files that was encoded from the uncompressed master. Same issue again.
The one thing I haven't tried (yet) is outputting my test project from Motion as described in my first post (but with the files tagged correctly this time!) and see if the DVD that gets burned plays correctly. I will try this in the next day or two.
I don't know what happens to my files after I FTP them to the cable provider, but I assume they must transcode them from H.264 into their system. If the files aren't tagged as interlaced then their system is probably treating them incorrectly, as well.
This brings me to the final question(s) that may solve all of this for me:
Is there a way to change just the metadata/tag in an existing QuickTime file (so that it is tagged correctly as interlaced) without having to re-render from the beginning? Also, It appears that FCP may suffer from the same issue since it obviously uses QT to export, just like Motion. If I correctly tag a file rendered from Motion and then import it into FCP and FCP doesn't then pass the correct tag on output to uncompressed I still have the same problem. Or, if FCP tags the uncompressed file correctly, but QT doesn't pass this along to the H.264, I'm still screwed. Hence, my question at the top of this paragraph! I think I really only need the last file I handle before FTPing to have the correct tag, since the content has been fine all along.
Thanks so much Iain for looking into this! I would never have found this on my own. I'm not exactly sure if this is a bug or just a bad implementation, but this seems like a bad oversight for sure and not something that could be figured out from reading the manual.
--Kurt
p.s. I will try some more experimenting with this and hopefully can come back and marked this thread as "question answered" since a workaround seems doable. Iain, would you be willing to submit this to Apple as a bug report? You seem to have a much better handle on this than I do.

Field dominance? converting progressive to 10 bit uncomp for beta output

Hi,
I shot my film on an HVX 200 720p60 format. So the field dominance of my timeline is set to none.
I am now trying to convert this footage to 4:3 SD letterboxed by putting the QT file of the completed film into a timeline with settings 720x486, 10 bit uncompressed, 29.97. I'm looking to output the film to a beta sp master and I don't know what field dominance to set it to.
Thanks

Do you have a capture card? Not to be snide or anything, just asking. Because the cards have, in their interfaces (AJA control Panel for example) options for full screen and letterbox.
Shane

Hdv sequence present - field dominance

Hi,
I captured HDV footage in FCE using the easy setup: HDV - Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i50. The footage was shot in PAL with a Sony HVR - 1P.
Now when I define sequences using the preset: Apple Intermediate Codec 1440x1080i50 and add the captured footage, I get a message about matching sequence and clip settings.
Turns out the clips have Field Dominance set to None and the sequence to Upper (Odd).
What do I need to go with? Keep it as Upper (Odd) or match clip and go with None.
I also dont understand why sequence preset has it set to that? I know its to do with interlacing and PAL starts at the first line. But I haven't had to do anything before with this when editing DV.
thanks

Clip properties
Vid Rate: 25fps
Frame Size: 1440 x 1080
Compressor: Apple Intermediate Codec
Data Rate: 2.8 MB/sec
Pixel Aspect: HD (1440x1080)
Anamorphic:
Field Dominance: None
Audio: 1 Stereo
Aud Rate: 48.0 KHz
Aud Format: 16-bit Integer
Sequence properties with easy setup -> Apple Intermediate Codec 1440x1080i50
Vid Rate: 25fps
Frame Size: 1440 x 1080
Compressor: Apple Intermediate Codec
Data Rate:
Pixel Aspect: HD (1440x1080)
Anamorphic:
Field Dominance: Upper (Odd)
Audio: 2 Outputs
Aud Rate: 48.0 KHz
Aud Format: 32 - bit Floating Point
Ignore the PAL in my comment. The footage was shot in HDV and the setting on the camera was 1080i and 25fps.

New Sequence Question - for slow motion video

Hi,
I'm a very new user of Premier. I've recently had issues with choppy playback of my preview videos. After much research I believe the issue was down to two things. Firstly my sequence did not match my input clip, I had it set to my desired output. Secondly, I was editing video across my network, rather than bringing it locally to my PC. I've fixed the latter issue by copying video files to my local machine and then moving them back onto the network once I've finished editing.
The advice out there essentially seems to be to match your sequence to your primary input video. I've done that and it helps. However, it's raised a big question for me. My input video is from a GoPro and is at 1080p 50fps. I ultimately want my output video to be slowed down to 25fps (resulting in a constant slow motion effect throughout the entire sequence).
If my sequence settings are set to match the input clip (50fps) and I slow the video down by 50%, will that result in an unsmooth video? My basic understanding is that if I slow 50fps video down by 50% then Premier will have to double the amount of frames. Where as previously, if I slowed it down by 50% Premier had enough frames to play with as the output video was 25fps.
Hopefully my question makes sense! Any advice on what the best approach is? Or is this a complete non-issue when it comes to exporting the video (providing I export to a 25fps formart)?
Thanks,

I think you said it OK, you are just missing the right words to do what you want. Let's walk through this for you, and for others that might read it later.
If you take a 50 frame per second video and put it into a sequence created from it, then slow it down 50% it doubles up each frame to achieve slow motion. Not what you want.
If you take a 50 frame per second video and put it into a 25 fps sequence, it drops half the frames to play at normal speed. Not what you want.
What you want to do is interpret the 50 fps video to 25 fps, then drop it into a 25 fps sequence. Each frame will play at 25 fps and generally be smooth as silk.
I don't have any 50 fps clips handy, but here are examples of taking 60 fps to 30 fps. (Excuse the idiot way that we Americans do things. Our 30 is actually 29.97 etc)
First, right click on the clip in the Project Panel, select Modify, and Interpret Footage. Then change the 50 to 25 - similar to this image:

Field Dominance and De-interlacing: what settings to use?

I've been trying to read about, and understand, the issues of deinterlacing and field dominance/order, but I'm having problems and don't yet see what the clear solution is.
I'm shooting DV footage with a consumer grade camcorder:
Capture Preset: DV NTSC 48 kHz
Sequence Preset: DV NTSC 48kHz
720x480 NTSC DV
QT Video Compressor: DV/DVCPRO-NTSC
The problems are "teeth and vertical lines" in the quick movements and transitions, but fixing one (by changing the "Field Dominance" setting in the Sequence) makes the other slightly worse, it seems.
Or, maybe I should be using the de-interlacing filter on everything? I haven't found clear instructions about what destination material this should be used for...
I'd be grateful if someone could look at this web page containing examples of what I mean:
http://www.karma-lab.com/images-pub/apple-q/fielddom_nt.html
Picture 1: NTSC DV frame, from sequence set to "Lower (Even)"
Picture 2: NTSC DV frame, from sequence set to "None"
Picture 3: frame from "Cross Zoom" transition in "Lower (Even)" sequence
Picture 4: frame from "Cross Zoom" transition in "None" sequence
Questions:
1) What are the correct settings? it would seem to be "None", because otherwise my transitions all have "teeth" and look like somebody is viewing it cross-eyed, even at full speed you can see the teeth in the transitions. But if I set it to none, then it seems that quick movements of the people in the videos get slightly more "teeth" to them...
2) I am producing web video (quicktime/flash video movies). Not for TV or broadcast. Am I supposed to throw the de-interlacing filter on everything?
with "lower", it's jerky (half the frames missing, I guess) but the "teeth" go away
with "flicker-free", it's not jerky, but it gets a little fuzzy looking, and I want to keep things "crisp"...
I need less advice on the theory, and more advice on "set it like this for what you are doing." I've read some really technical explanations, and I understand why interlacing exists etc., but not exactly what I should be doing to get the optimal results for my needs, i.e. simply good-looking web video with decent motion and transitions, shot from a consumer level DV camcorder.
Thanks for reading!
G4 Dual 800 QuickSilver / PBook G4 Titanium Mac OS X (10.3.9)

What are the correct settings?
Since you mention that you've shot your material on a consumer-grade camcorder, that would mean that Field Dominance – in your FCP Sequence Settings – should be set to Lower. If you use None – and I'm sparing you the tech talk here – then you're basically rendering out at a reduced quality (as the last pic in your link demonstrates)
I am producing web video (quicktime/flash video movies). Not for TV or broadcast. Am I supposed to throw the de-interlacing filter on everything? with "lower", it's jerky (half the frames missing, I guess) but the "teeth" go away with "flicker-free", it's not jerky, but it gets a little fuzzy looking, and I want to keep things "crisp"...
If you really want to keep things crisp, you best quality option - within the Final Cut Studio suite of tools - is to Export Using Compressor, with the Deinterlace option in Compressor 2.x's Frame Controls to Better (Motion Adaptive) while setting your Output Fields to be Progressive (presuming that you'll exporting to QuickTime first, then converting to Flash. Having said that, this type of conversion can take a long time to process and may not be suitable if you're under a serious time constraint.
Otherwise, the speediest option is indeed to slap a Deinterlace filter onto everything (or nest your sequence then place the filter on the nest) but the quality isn't always what folks would like.

Progressive scanning and Field Dominence questions

Beginning questions. I will be making simple video movies mostly for viewing on Macbook Pro, maybe on TV, but unlikely.
I have some settings questions. I will shoot with miniDV Sony DCR-VX2100, 16 bit, 48 khz, NTSC.
The camera has a setting: Progressive On/Off (normal). The (rather confusing) manual suggests Progressive for more stable stills, otherwise use normal for moving images.
Should I use Progressive Off? And what setting for Field Dominance, in FCE?
Hope that I have provided enough info.
Thanks,
Sonny

Should I use Progressive Off? And what setting for Field Dominance, in FCE?
For regular shooting I'd leave it off. A fast shutter and good lighting will give pretty good stills in off mode.
If you need (rarely) rock solid stills then switch it on if you like.
Lower field dominance for DV. When you select the correct Easy Setup in FCE all the leg work is done.
You should use Easy Setup>DV-NTSC. Set this and Save before capturing to your Sequence.
Al

Field Dominance Question for Sequence

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