Hi,

this problem is lying on my head from the moment I bought HD camcorder. It is Sony's HD camera which records .MTS files. Direct play from the camcorder to the LCD TV is great - smooth and sharp.

The only software that works ok with .MTS is Kdenlive. I edit .MTS directly which I am very happy with. But...

After rendering, I have the feeling that the output file (HDV 1080i25 fps (=50 interlaced)) is not as smooth as the original file. By smooth I mean like the frame rate be twice lower (moves are not smooth).

This is my typical "setup":

- input: MTS @25MBps, 1920x1080i50
- render to: HDV 1080i25
- play with VLC: deinterlace ON, deinterlace mode: MEAN
- OS: MacOS and Ubuntu (2 different PCs)

This is really frustrating for me... If there is someone with good explanation or maybe a solution, this will really be a big relief for me.

Thanks.

As far as I know kdenlive is not able to export interlaced output. All exports are deinterlaced.

In fact, there are several options what to export. I chose HD 1080i (or HDV) and there is an option to leave scan mode "Auto" or "Force Progressive" or "Force Interlace". What are these options for?

Is rendering connected with MLT? How can I check the MLT version (and install latest one)?

I think the scan mode options are there to describe the source type.
to determine the mlt version type this in a terminal:

melt -version

The latest one is mlt 0.7.0 but it is only recommended since kdenlive 0.8.0.
With kdenlive 0.7.8 the recommended mlt version was 0.5.10

It is strongly recommended to follow those rules.

Kdenlive uses mlt as backend. So when your request a render in kdenlive the options are passed to melt (mlt command line editor) and it does the job. In fact melt only renders deinterlaced frames. So updating mlt won't change nothing in this area.

Thanks, I checked and I'm using melt version 0.5.10.

That is an interesting information that melt can only render deinterlaced frames. Is there any way to render to interlaced format? The second (or the first!) is, if Kdenlive natively works ok with interlaced videos or it just takes them as deinterlaced (=progressive)?

Yes Kdenlive/melt can deal with interlaced or progressive sources.

And sorry I was WRONG. According to melt developer "By default, melt uses its profile information and if interlaced does proper interlaced coding by specifying ildct and ilme".

If I understand well this means melt renders as interlaced if the project profile specifies interlaced option. In kdenlive for HDV in interlaced mode there is a profile named "HDV 1440x1080i 25 fps".(In Project menu > Project settings)

Are you using it or another?

Hope it helps.

Hi

i have exactly the same problem with avchd from cx505.

Before use i convert clip in mepg2 and i export in mpeg2 ...

i have the big problem of move not smooth ...

nyme

Dan solved my problem :-)

My problem was in ffmpeg vs melt version that didn't match. I have 3 PC platforms and sometimes it is difficult to manage all :-)

The solution is to take the original raw .MTS file from camcorder, put it in the filmstrip and make whatever you want to do and render it to e.g. HDV 1080i format.

Suggestion:
- project properties: HD 1080i25fps (kdenlive knows it is interlaced with 50 frames)
- render: HDV 1080i (you loose full HD but it is still 1440x1080)

The resulted file is the same quality (smooth motion) as the original .MTS.

Thanks all for engagement.