DVFilm Maker: the highest resolution method to deinterlace DV

and make it look like film

DVFilm Maker Online Help

System Requirements

  1. A large amount of hard drive space (6GB to process 10 minutes).
  2. A fast processor (Pentium class 500 MHz or faster recommended), 128MB memory.
  3. Quicktime 6.5.1 with "Recommended" (full) installation (included on CDROM).
  4. WIndows 95/98/NT 4.0/2000/Me/XP.
  5. A Firewire (IEEE-1394) capture card to capture and play back DV Quicktime or AVI files.
  6. DV editing software such as Premiere, Avid DV Express, or Vegas Video.
  7. Can also be used with non-DV editing systems which can import/export AVI or Quicktimes, see FAQ # 7 below.

Need a free DV capture/playback program that works with DVFilm Maker? Click here to get DVIO.

Installation

  1. Copy the contents of the CDROM into a new directory on your hard drive. This is done by opening the CDROM folder, click Edit->Select All, Edit->Copy, then create the new folder, open it, and click Edit->Paste.
  2. Install Quicktime 6.5.1 if you have not done so already, by double-clicking on the Quicktime installer in the new directory. Choose "recommended" (full) installation level. get it here
  3. Double-click on the DVFilm Maker icon in the new directory to execute the program.



A quick-start guide appears which will guide you through use of the program and which explains each option. Check here for an online version of the quickstart guide.

Conversion of Completed Movie Files to Film-Motion

  1. For long projects, it's recommended that you split up your film into scenes of 20 minutes or less, and process them separately. Export a DV-AVI from your editing program with DV- NTSC compression at 720 x 480, 29.97 frames/sec or DV-PAL compression at 720 x 576, 25 frames/sec as appropriate. If your editor allows you to choose the quality setting, use maximum quality. If your editor allows you to choose the type of AVI file, select Type 2, or Open DML (This is the default for Premiere 6 in DV Playback mode). Remember that DVFilm needs the original, unprocessed version of this file for transfer to film. Uncompressed AVI files may also be used, but a much larger amount of disk space is required.
  2. From the DVFilm Maker File menu, select File->Open. Navigate to the directory which contains your source material, and double-click on the desired input file. Or drag the movie file into the Maker window. It may be in Quicktime (*.mov) or AVI (*.avi) format.
  3. Player controls will open to show you the movie. You can use the volume control, the slider, and the single frame buttons to examine the source footage. DVFilm Maker (version 1.02 onward) displays at full resolution and shows both fields, but on slower computers may not play back in real time.
  4. Click on Process->View Options to choose how you want the material to be processed. The process options appear automatically if the drag-and-drop feature is used. If the source material is 16:9 anamorphic (squeezed) you may choose to shrink that down vertically with a letterbox (after deinterlacing). If the source material is 4:3 (standard television aspect ratio) you may choose to crop that to 16:9 with a letterbox. Or you may choose not to use letterbox at all. The check box for Deinterlace must be checked if your footage was shot standard interlaced NTSC or PAL. Uncheck the box if your footage was shot in frame-movie mode (Canon XL-1 or GL-1) or progressive-scan. If you need to convert to true 24P Quicktime for editing in a 24P timeline, then use the 24P options.
  5. 24P Film motion - check this box for best film-motion look. The source footage must be 60i (interlaced NTSC), not frame-movie mode, progressive scan 30P or shot with slow shutter peeds like 1/30th sec.
  6. Add Grain - check this box to add simulated film grain.
  7. Red Boost - check this box to boost the red layer for warmer tones.
  8. Options are saved and will be used as the default the next time you run the program, but only if the Quickstart Guide is disabled, presuming that you are an experienced user.
  9. After you have chosen your desired options, click OK or Start. To start processing from the main menu, click on Process->Start Process.
  10. Processing takes approximately five to ten minutes for each minute of material, depending on the speed of your hard drive and computer. While it is processing you may use your computer for other tasks. Click on the minimize box (-) to move the application to the task bar. To cancel processing, click Stop on the progress bar pop-up. Pause/resume may also be used to temporarily halt processing.
  11. After processing is complete, the player controls will allow you to view the processed footage. DVFilm Maker (version 1.02 onward) displays at full resolution and shows both fields, but depending on the speed of your computer may not play back in real time. Don't judge the film-motion results on your computer screen. You must record the footage to tape to see the results, see the following steps:
  12. The processed footage is saved to a temporary file called newmovie.avi. To change the name, click on File->SaveAs and enter the name of the AVI file to which you would like to save the results, and select the directory where you want to save it. The directory you choose must be on the same disk drive as the source movie. File->Export can be used to convert to other file formats instead, like DV stream file.
  13. Start Premiere 6, or other DV editing program, or your DV capture card software. Import the processed DV-AVI or Quicktime into the program and use the Print to Tape feature to play back the DV-AVI to your DV camera or deck.

Help on 24P options - click here.

Help on Batch Processing - click here

Help on Advanced Options

The advanced options pop-up is provided for experienced users who wish to experiment with the processing parameters.

  1. Show Motion Detector Mask - Use this to output the motion detector mask instead of processed video, to allow you to adjust the motion detector sensitivity. The motion detector output is white where there is motion detected, and black where there is no motion detected. Select a value for the Motion Detector Sensitivity (starting and stopping the process each time) so that static areas of the screen are perfectly black.
  2. Show Line Detector Mask - Use this to output the line detector mask instead of processed video, to allow you to see where the line detector is working.
  3. Line Detector On - Use this option to reduce dot crawl on nearly horizontal lines when the camera is moving slightly. Do not use this option with high-shutter speed video. Note: using this option will slow down processing time significantly.
  4. Motion Detector Sensitivity - range 1-1000, default value = 50 Lower values will allow more interlacing to leak through but may work better with brightly lit scenes. Higher values will results in less leak-through but may reduce vertical resolution in areas that are not moving. Higher values may work better with very dark or low-contrast video. See here for more details.
  5. Grain Amount - range 0-10, default value = 4. Lower values will look less grainy, higher values will look more grainy.
  6. Red Boost Amount, range 0-10 default value = 7. Lower values will look less red, higher values will look more red.
  7. Blur Horizontal Lines - Use this option to smooth out or blur horizontal lines to reduce dot crawl. This option can help improve the appearance of video taken with high shutter speed settings or with low-quality video cameras.
  8. Blur Amount, range 1-3, default value = 1. Lower values will blur less, higher values will blur more.
  9. Use YUV Processing - Use this option for more accurate color and faster processing. Note: turn this option off for consistent results with older versions (<2.0) of DVFilm Maker, or for use with RGB video sources like uncompressed AVI.
  10. Always Make Quicktime - Use this option to create PAL/NTSC Quicktimes for systems that require Quicktime instead of AVI, for example Avid DV Express.
  11. User Selects Output Folder - Use this option to specify which drive and folder to save the output movies. Otherwise the output movies will go into the same folder as the source movie.
  12. User Selects Compression - Use this option to manually configure the Quicktime output compression settings. Some codecs like the Avid Quicktime PAL codec require manual setting of 4:2:0 color sampling. If this option is not used, then DVFilm Maker will attempt to use the same codec and settings as the source movie. When creating an AVI from 24P Quicktime, this option can also be used to create either DV or uncompressed AVI.
  13. Output Folder - enter the drive and folder you wish to use for output movies, or click Browse.

Known Issues and workarounds

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Do I need to use Quicktime 6.5.1 or can I use an earlier version? You need to use QT 5 or 6 because the DV codec in version 5 is greatly improved. It is far superior to the Microsoft DV codec, so the Apple DV codec is always used even if the input file is an AVI. The DVFilm Maker CDROM (serial no. 21 onward) includes a self-contained Quicktime 6 installer so you do not need to download from the Apple website. Do not use version 6.5, it has a bug in the DV codec, upgrade to 6.5.1.
  2. Can I use DVFilm Maker to convert NTSC to PAL? Yes, go here for more info.
  3. Can I use DVFIlm Maker to convert PAL to NTSC? For that you need DVFilm Atlantis.
  4. DVFilm Maker will not read my .mov or .avi files, what's wrong? Your files must be either a Quicktime file, AVI movie file, or MPEG2 file. AVI files, must be in the Type 2 (Open DML) format.
  5. The .avi file created by DVFilm Maker will not play through my DV capture card, or the resolution looks bad, what's wrong? If you are using Windows Media Player to play it back, select File->Properties->Advanced and select the DV compression properties. Make sure the highest resolution is selected.
  6. The Quicktime created by DVFilm Maker has poor resolution when viewed with the Quicktime player, why? The Quicktime player (free version), will not play DV movies on screen at full resolution. You must export the Quicktime or AVI movie to DV tape, using your capture card, to see full resolution. If your final product is web content instead of DV tape, choose one of the non-DV codecs (like MJPEG B) in the DVFilm Maker File->Export popup.
  7. How can I use DVFilm Maker with non-Firewire AVI-based video editing systems, like the DPS Reality? Yes, the recommended method with version 2.0 of Maker is to export a Type-2 uncompressed AVI. Read the exported AVI into DVFilm Maker and process it. DVFilm Maker will create a film-motion uncompressed AVI called newmovie.avi. Rename this file using File->SaveAs, and then import the new AVI movie into your video editing program for conversion and playback.
  8. The DeInterlace option seems to have no effect on my video, why not? If you shot frame mode, or used a slow shutter speed of 1/30th sec or slower, cameras like the Canon XL-1 and the Sony VX-2000 will record both fields simultaneously, and so the DeInterlace option in Maker has no effect. We do not recommend shooting in these modes because non-interlaced NTSC cannot be converted to 24 fps for transfer to film, the 24P film-motion option will also not work, and also because the slower shutter speeds will blur motion much more than a movie camera would. With DVFilm Maker and standard, interlaced video, you get both film-like video suitable for digital projection and (with your unprocessed video) compatibility with transfer to film.
  9. What about fast shutter speeds like 1/250th sec? We do not recommend these either. Processed footage will look best and most film-like at 1/60th sec shutter speed. If you need more information on why to use certain shutter speeds and how that interacts with transfer to film or with DVFilm Maker, we recommend the book SHOOTING DIGITAL.
  10. Do I get free updates when you make performance improvements to the software or release a new version? Bug fixes are emailed free. Updates on CDROM are available by mail to registered users, for a small upgrade fee ($35). Go to the DVFilm Update Center