[MEncoder-users] Re: field order mysteriously changing

[Walter Belhaven]

Dieter <freebsd at sopwith.solgatos.com> wrote:
> 
> Do you think the broadcaster was randomly changing the field order?
> Or Tivo?  Perhaps different cameras had different field order?
> Or something else ???

Thanksfully, it doesn't appear that the field order is changing
randomly nor frequently.  The two field-order changes I encountered
both occurred on either side of a commercial break.  Thankfully,
the sporting event in question was a hockey game with no commercial
interruption, except between periods of course, so I didn't have a
ton of such things to deal with.  (It was the Olympic Gold Medal
Hockey Game in case you're interested.)  I couldn't even wager a 
guess as to whether the Network (NBC), Provider (DirecTV), or DVR
(HR10-250) was the "cause" of the field change, though my gut tells
that the Tivo faithfully recorded what it got.

> Does Tivo play it okay?  If so, is Tivo detecting the field order
> changes and fixing it automagically?  If so, could tools like
> mencoder, ffmpeg, etc. be taught to fix field order automagically?

The Tivo plays it like a champ.  No noticeable field-reversal
problems (they'd be VERY obvious in a sporting event, especially
a hockey game), though coming out of a commercial there might be
a single-frame (single-field?) hiccup, which isn't really an issue
when watching the game on the Tivo.  I can't really remember -- it's
been a long time since I actually watched any of this on the Tivo. :D

As to whether the mencoder, ffmpeg, etc., could be trained to deal
with this, I think that's what the "capital" B,T,etc. options are
supposed to do on the phase command, but I couldn't get them to work.
If they "did the right thing" for the segments that required field
reversal, they'd "do the wrong thing" for the segments that didn't.
So, I did everything manually.  That would be excruciating for an
event with frequent reversals and frequent commercial breaks, though,
so I hope the answer to your question is a resounding "yes". :)

Gentlemen?

WB


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com