Tips on Deinterlacing experiments in Preview pane

To see the effects of interlacing/combing and compare the results of different deinterlacing methods:

  1. Insert a clip (e.g. 1080p50) to the timelineLeave clip’s properties unchanged (eg UFF).
  2. Set Project Properties to same as the clip – except make the project Progressive.
  3. Set Project Deinterlace method to None.
  4. Set Preview to Good/Full.
  5. Find a moment on the timeline where there is a good degree of motion (fast but remaining in-frame and not too blurred).

If Preview Scaling is Off then combing should be revealed in principle but may be hard to make out in practice – too fine a detail (1 pixel wide).Easiest workaround:

  1. Set Preview Scaling to On then reduce the Preview pane size to not-quite half-size.
  2. The “not-quiteness” (difference from exactly half-size) then generates a “Moire pattern” magnification of the combing – much easier to spot.

Now you can experiment with different types of deinterlacing – bearing in mind you are looking at something derived from the combing as opposed to the combing itself.  To clarify the -actual- combing, one can deploy Windows’ Accessibility-Magnifier – more realistic than the above though less convenient – as follows:

  1. In Windows 7, do Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Start Magnifier.
  2. Best magnifier view-mode is a (rectangular) “Lens” (only available if Aero is enabled).  Default zoom level is (1:1) i.e no zoom.
  3. The easiest way to change zoom level is Cmd+ and Cmd-, where Cmd is the Windows button on a PC or Command/Apple/CurlySquare button on a Mac (accessing Windows e.g. locally via Boot Camp or Virtual Machine).
  4. Can change lens size via Ctrl-Alt-R then (with -no- mouse-buttons held) drag it.
  5. Exit magnifier by Cmd-Esc.
  6. Sadly no way to simply toggle On/Off, but in W7 you can pin it to the task-bar.
  7. If magnifier control window gets buried by another window then it is still accessible as a permanently-on-top magnifying-glass icon.

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