Which Field Dominance setting in Compressor?

Hello,
Which Field Dominance setting should I choose in Compressor, given that I shot on DV in progressive mode, and have rendered and exported to uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2? (The Field Dominance alternatives in Compressor are: "Top First", "Bottom First", "Progressive", and "Automatic".)
I am confused by this because in FCP, I believe that the correct Field Dominance setting is "Lower (Even)" (not "Progressive"), since in DV format, images are stored one field after another, even if pairs of fields were captured simultaneously, i.e. even if the camera was used in "progressive mode".
But precisely because pairs of fields were captured simultaneously when I shot in progressive mode, I suspect that the correct Field Dominance setting in Compressor is "Progressive". But perhaps I'm wrong(?).
Would someone please enlighten me?
Thanks.
Robert

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.

Similar Messages

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.

30p with a Canon XA10 - need help with Final Cut 7 "FIELD DOMINANCE" setting and an explanation of "drop frames". Thank you!!

I shot footage using a Canon XA10 and there are issues with the HD quality not looking as crisp as it should. I am trying to make sure the settings in Final Cut are right. Need help confirming what should be in "Field Dominance" --- have seen discussions about making sure it's set to "none" but I'm confused as to what to do.
Also someone suggested I use "drop frames" to change from 30p to 24p within Final Cut. He couldn't explain how to do it so any input appreciated as well as any thoughts on whether this is a good option to try.

If you're shooting 30p, field dominance should be set to none. Since you need to use log and transfer to bring this material in to fcp, I would assume it would be set correctly automatically. Are you sure you've set the camera properly?
Drop frames will not change 30 p to 24p. Dropframe timecode simply refers to the number assigned to each frame which drops an occasional number (not any frames) so the timecode duration is the actual duration, since 30p videoi is actually 29.97 frames per second which each frame assigned a timecode number.
This is very basic video stuff and requires some basic knowledge of video. Wikipedia is a pretty good resource for much of this stuff plus there are lots of great resources on the web. Look up interlaced and progressive video, 24p and 30p.
And as far as judging quality, you can only get an accurate view of the quality in fcp when you have a video card attached to a video monitor. The viewer and canvas are only an approximation of what the quality is. Minimally, set the canvas or viewer to 100% to get a better approximation of the quality.

DVCPRO HD 720p60 Footage. Field dominance set to "None" Should timeline ?

Hey all, I got some footage from a new client. I got it on a drive, so I wasnt the editor to pull it from the source tapes. Anyway, the clips read "None" for field dominance. I'm wondering if I should set the timeline sequence to "None" or "Lower" for proper playback. For output it will go to a BetaSp Deck or possibly back to the DVCPRO Deck. Lastly, the clients want to have DVD's made.
Any suggestions about the proper way to set up appreciated.

What you need to do is set the Easy Setup to DVCPRO HD 720p60...then make a new sequence...and use what settings it has. Or, if you have FCP 6, when you cut a clip into the timeline it will ask if you want the sequence settings to match that of the clip....click YES.
Since this is progressive footage, field dominance will be set to NONE by default.
Shane

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 ...

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.

Set field dominance

When importing SD AVCHD the field dominance set to "Un-modified" by FCP X which create a big problem when burning DVD.
is there a way to set the field dominance before importing or to set the project field dominance so every clip that go there will have the same field dominance setting?
I know you can change it after import and before editing but it's very hard in my workflow as I'm working with few different formats and cameras.
Could you do it on export clip to QT?
cheers

Why do you need to set the field dominance?
Select the clip in the Browser and choose Edit>Item Properties.
In the window that opens Control-click the item you want to alter (in the Clip column) and select from the drop-down menu.
Ian.

Where do I set field dominance?

Hi,
A couple of months ago, I had edited a prgram in FCP 5. I deleted the footage after some time. Now my client has returned with some changes in the program. I re-digitized the footage & tried to re-connect it to the offline media in the timeline. However it fails to reconnect giving an error " The file does not have proper content to reconnect to " Final Edit 01" clip in sequence."
When I checked the logging info of the original clip & the re-digitized clip I found the difference in the settings of field dominance. the original is on
" Not set" while the Re-digitized is on " Even field" . I changed the settings in
" Sequence Settings" but doesn't help. Where else can I change the field dominance setting to capture the video?
Thanks.
Regards,
MANDAR
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.1)

This is the classic example of why one should NEVER load a project via Capture Now. ALWAYS mark your ins and outs and Log or Capture Clip.
That said, have you tried grabbing the clips in smaller chunks? You may find that one particular clip switches dominance and thereafter everything is switched. Try and capture the first clip only, see if it works. Then start working your way through. Otherwise, manually recreate your clips by typing in Ins and Outs, one by one.

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.

Field dominance

Hi,
I recorded some HDV footage. It was recorded as 1080i50 with 25p.
Googling around, I found that it means its scanning the same frame twice. So there isn't a motion change between the odd and even lines.
Now the clips were captured as AIC with field dominance none. The sequence preset I used for HDV AIC is with field dominance Upper.
Is it correct that it does not make a difference whether I have field dominance set to None or Upper? None would obviously be correct as that is what the clip is set to but it should not matter, right?
thanks

I thought the field dom is simply telling which field to scan and display first (and even with none, if burning to DVD and viewing on a television, the footage will be displayed as interlaced).
Also the effect is added to clips which have field dom: none so shouldn't it be applied uniformly to the clip?
I'm a little confused.
The only effect I have added so far is smoothcam. Other than that, I have been sending to Color for grading.

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.

Uprezzing SD to HD, make output upper field dominant?

Ok, so I'm uprezzing a SD short film originally shot on DV, interlaced, to HD for a film festival. After the uprez, the resulting file will go onto an HDCAM tape for broadcast at the fest. I want to keep the interlacing as the crappy video look is part of the story.
So, that being said, I hear all HD is upper field dominant, while my clip settings and and sequence in FCP for the original SD movie are lower field dominant. In compressor, do I want to change the settings so the output file is upper field dominant since it will be HD, or leave it as is to match the source material (lower field)? Furthermore, there are two places to set field dominance in compressor, one under the encoder tab, after pressing the "video settings" button (if interlaced is checked), and another under the frame controls tab. Do I set both to upper/lower field dominance, or is one telling it what the source footage looks like and the other is for the output file? Thanks.

OK, here you are,
Original footage :
Original Footage Interpretation:
Render Settings :
Output Module Settings :
Format Options :
Re-imported Footage :
Interpretation of re-imported footage :
The End and Thanks~~

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

Field dominance problem?

Hello:
When editing DVcam footage into a dv sequence with Livetype graphics, which field dominance (none, upper, lower) should be chosen in seq settings?
I take it LT graphics should be created with the same FD? Currently, my seq is LOWER fd, as are LT graphics, but this one LT billboard push transition (moves from up to down, revealing incoming shot beneath) strobes and even seems to have the "double strobe" burnt into it. I have a screen snap I could send if someone needed to see the problem.
Thanks much
KB

lower (even) is the correct field dominance for any DV based sequence (excepting HDV)
i'm assuming you're seeing this strobing on your external TV/Broadcast monitor
obviously the first thing to do is simpy run a couple of tests yourself. try changing your field dominance to None
going further, you might try using moving the whole LT compostion up/down a pixel in your FCP sequence ... its been known to help with Text Generator Crawls and Rolls.
worth a try i should think.
hope it helps
Andy

Exporting from After Effects (field dominance issues?)

Hi all,
I created a FCP DV/NTSC sequence with field dominance set to none (I'm working with still images, this improves the quality a lot). I then export that sequence as a quicktime movie file and import that movie file into After Effects.
The problem is after I'm done working in After Effects, I can't export a quicktime file without it looking really poor quality. When exporting, I preserve all the original FCP sequence settings, except the field dominance settings(doesn't seem to be an option in After Effects for this?).
So pretty much I am trying to get a sharp picture when exporting in After Effects, so I can take it back into FCP. Please assist.

Your workflow is quite limited by the DV NTSC sequence. If your sequence is all stills, you are not necessarily tied to that setting at all. Do you need to output to a VTR via FireWire ultimately? What is your final output?
A better sequence choice might be DV50. You would export a QT movie, current settings. You don't actually export from After Effects. You render by adding your comp to the Render Queue. Good render settings would be DV50 (this would not require rendering in FCP), Animation, or perhaps ProRes 422 HQ if you have access to it. You would choose not to render fields.
If it's all stills, it would be better yet to simply start in After Effects.

Which Field Dominance setting in Compressor?

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