Ulead DVD Workshop "RETAIN FILM MODE" Feature

[Jerry Jones]

Does anybody know if Ulead plans to expand the RETAIN FILM MODE feature in Ulead DVD Workshop 2.0?

The HELP files say the following:

"Retain Film mode is only enabled when the active title is in a
PAL-compliant format."

"Selecting this option indicates that the video is in 24 fps progressive
scan and will be flagged to 25 fps to comply with PAL specifications."

"Note that the video's frame rate is not accelerated to 25 fps but only
'flagged' as 25 fps."

One can see the RETAIN FILM MODE check box when you right mouse click on a
clip thumbnail and then click OUTPUT DISPLAY OPTIONS.

So - apparently - this would seem to be a feature that only applies to PAL
users.

I ask whether this feature will be offered to NTSC users because I'm receiving e-mail questions from people who think I'm still working for Ulead.

If anybody knows, please respond.

Sincerely,

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

I'll contact somebody at Ulead.

Many faces have changed so I'm not sure who is currently serving as the product manager for DVD Workshop.

I'll try to find out.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Brian Ellis]

If I understand the technique correctly, what they are doing is to implement the 24 fps with the header saying it is 25 fps. Many PAL sets have sufficient tolerance on the frame rate to accept 24 fps, but accept only 25 fps in the header as part of the DVD standard. I cannot see this working with NTSC as you cannot fool a 29.97 fps system into accepting a true frame rate of 24 fps. The frame time base would tear up if the synch pulses are outside, say, 29 - 31 fps. I'm not even sure that it is a brilliant idea in PAL, even if it may work; I feel there may be some hardware that could baulk at it.

[Jerry Jones]

You may be correct, Brian.

Nevertheless, one of the individuals who e-mailed me insisted that an NTSC DVD player could "telecine" such a video recording (as he put it).

I'm not so sure about that and I share your skepticism.

I wonder if anybody has ever tried it.

?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Dr Mordrid]

The DVD standard and most all players support what's called "FILM MODE", meaning video at films 24 fps frame rate. For NTSC interlace compilations encoding for FILM isn't to exactly 24 fps; it should to be encoded at 23.976 fps but some players will also shift into FILM at PAL's 25 fps. Not all, but quite a few.

When players do this they enable a mode called TeleCine, aka 3:2 or 2:3 Pulldown. TeleCine pads frames in a precise manner in order to increase the film frame rate for display on NTSC TV's.

Inverse TeleCine, aka ITC, is the reverse process for encoding NTSC's 29.970 video to 23.976 fps for use in FILM compilations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine#Reverse_telecine

One of the main advantages is that since there are fewer frames you end up with a bigger piece of the bit budget going to each frame, almost always resulting in higher image quality.

I use this quite a bit and MPEG's encoded at this rate will pass through DVD Workshop 2 without transcoding if you have it set up properly; meaning do not check the "Convert to disc template" box for these clips.

This is no problem for MSPro since it supports FILM modes 23.976 frame rate. It also supports another favorite of mine, halfD1. halfD1 is DVD's 352x480/576 half width mode. Most people can't tell the difference between it and a full 720 or 704x480/576 frame.

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian Ellis]

It also supports another favorite of mine, halfD1. halfD1 is DVD's 352x480/576 half width mode. Most people can't tell the difference between it and a full 720 or 704x480/576 frame.

Dr. Mordrid

That does not surprise me because the average commercial SD TV set is NOWHERE near being able to resolve 704/720 pixels (352/360 lines). If you look at a vertical line wedge, most of 'em blur out somewhere between 200 and 250 lines. However, it is important to keep the full 480/576 vertical pixels and not to halve these, as this will show a distinct pic quality degradation.

[Jerry Jones]

One of the individuals who wrote to me about this issue insisted that his 24fps video was being converted regardless of the setting he chose in the software.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

The other obvious question remains:

If NTSC DVD players support a "film" frame rate, then why do the Ulead HELP files specifically state that the "RETAIN FILM MODE" check box applies only to PAL users?

Why not make the check box option available to NTSC users as well?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net