Hello,
We are creating video content for TV channel, which means 50i standard is best suited since it will produce better quality on TV screen compared to 25p. The question is how can I make sure that vMix uses 50i through the whole workflow:
1. Inputting live video from camcorder,
2. Recording to a local file,
3. Outputting to external output - vMix virtual capture?

We have camcorders configured to output 720x576 50i and at this point Im worried that vMix downgrades 50i to 25p in case of live input and therefore has a negative effect on natural video motion. When we add input via “Capture” tab using USB Capture device, we get 25fps in vMix compared to 50fps when inputting a recorded video copied from the same camcorders flash drive (media player classic displays that the video from camcorder’s flash drive is actually 25fps interlaced).

Any suggestions how to deal with this will be much appreciated,,
Dundurs

P.S. As a suggestion, Martin, would introducing “50i” and “25p” as separate options solve the problem?

1. Im playing video, that has been coppied from camcorders flash drive. Camcorder is set to save videos at 720x576 50i, which is PAL SD standard. When I copy the video to computer's hard drive and open in media player classic, it displays "25fps" and "interlaced" on property pages. When I open the same video in vMix, it displays 50fps in the left bottom corner. You can check out that video here: http://failiem.lv/u/mwlrlet

2. I have set all settings in vMix to 720x576 50i or 25p, except input and preview size, also Im using widescreen everywhere.

3. I tried to record live video (with deinterlace off for specific capture input) using HDMI input (timeleak 80HD) and composite input (usb hauppauge live 2). In both cases after opening the recording in media player classic, in property pages it displays "progressive", not "interlaced". I made sure that camcorder is using 576i for HDMI output, composite output should be using 567i since its PAL standard, but I was not able to check that for sure.

6. To make sure which mode is being used currently, what about adding an "interlaced" or "progressive" indicator on the bottom left corner of vMix?

7. Assuming, I have interlaced live sources working, what happens in recording/external output if I mix in, for example, picture or a progressive video? Does recording/output switches to progressive or it adapts during time? Would be cool to force one mode, in my case 50i.

Regards,
Dundurs

Thanks mh166, I've been looking for a long time for such a piece of software.

Yes, I can confirm that Mediainfo displays the same information as media player clasic for videos described above.

Hello, Martin,

I changed the renderer from EVR to WMR and disabled the deinterlace option in nvidia panel, and indeed the problem with video recording playing at 50fps disappeared and video is now being played at 25fps.

But this did not change that the MPEG2 recorded video in vMix is always "progressive" either when recording from a video file or a video capture source.
At this point we cannot be shure if the problem occurs at video capture source or video MPEG2 recording level. Perhaps introducing p/i status on vMix status bar would be a good next step to solve this mystery.

Dundurs

I could look at adding an alternative deinterlacing option that converts the cameras 50i input to 50p.
That could then be recorded to 50p to retain full motion.

Would that be a suitable compromise?

It won't be in v4 but most likely the release after that.

I've managed to implement the new deinterlacing method in v4.
There will be two options available:

Blend: This is the current 50i to 25p conversion.
Bob: This converts 50i to 50p to retain full motion. Needs to be recorded to 50p.

Yes, you can safely export 1024x576 while preserving interlacing information.
I should have clarified point 2 by saying only the height needs to match across all inputs, the Width can be changed as requried.