I need to convert a trailer back to PAL. It's originally from a telecined PAL master, but has been poorly converted to NTSC 29.98. I've had a few attempts at this but it just looks jery and awful.

Use the "conform" option in Cinema Tools.

I've already tried doing a conform to 25fps after running it through a Reverse Telecine, but it still looks jerky.

The converted file looks a mess, with dupe frames, missing frames. jumps and interlaced/cross frames across scene changes.

Conforming to 25fps can't add or remove interlace, so that would point to the reverse telecine being incorrect.

Graeme, what would be the best workflow for this?

Use the pulldown removal in Cinema Tools. But you have to be careful to make sure the cadence is correct. Make sure you view the resulting 24fps movie frame by frame at 100% to spot any interlace artifacts. Also remember that if it's from a pre-edited clip the cadence can change on every edit, so you may need to splice on cadence changes and do each bit alone. If the cadence for a clip is not correct you'll need to select the correct cadence rather than make Cinema Tools guess.

Thanks Graeme. It's actually a 3.5 minute movie trailer. I usually use Compressor to Deinterlace (I've also tried JES DEinterlacer with this one).

I've never used Cinema Tools as I don't understand how to work out the cadence. Any help would be most appreciated. I have no idea of the capture mode, does this mean I need to try all Capture Mode and Field options? Is there an app that will pre-analyse the clip for me?

I'm sorry - it's so long since I've done this!! I think you just need to slowly advance through the clip and spot the pattern of whole or split frames to deduce the cadence.

I've no idea what pattern I'm looking for, unfortunately

So... I've been testing every option, and up to my 24th setting/attempt, still no luck. I think I'll give up on this one!

I think I've worked it out - it would seem that the PAL 25fps clip was transferred to NTSC 29.98 whilst retaining the 25fps speed.

I've done this a few times, either converting from a DVD source or a VHS source.

on two separate occasions (the DVDs) i tried every variation in Compressor with no luck
weirdly my solution was to flip the fields first.
I applied a filed flipping filter first (can't remember if it was a Nattress or a Joe's), and exported,
then ran that file thru Compressor.

i've aso had a DVD where the source had been (i assume) standards converted from PAL to NTSC, and it was hopeless: no way to convert it as there was no clear pattern, and most frames had some level of field blending.

so i left that as NTSC, and checked all my cuts for errant fields.


nick