@jak.willis

Hi.

You can't de-interlace an already converted file from progressive. You could add it again but there would be little benefit to doing that.

What you may be experiencing is a difference in screen refresh rates if you have an older TV as the UK broadcast standard is still 50Hz and not the 60Hz or higher of computer screen monitors.

I don't know if the newer Sky or Virgin TV set top boxes are different but our Virgin box is still 50Hz.

If there was a problem between the interlaced and progressive versions it would show as jagged tearing between the top and bottom scan of the interlaced imaged, not a juddering of the image as such.

If the file is playing back smoothly on your computer monitor then the interlacing is not your problem.

Ray.

@jak.willis

One way to obtain interlaced copies would be to buy one of the many DVD Eastenders boxed sets.

Ray.

@jak.willis

Hi Jak

Once the conversion from interlaced to progressive is done, conversion back to interlaced will not match the original video.

Depending on the progressive video's Framerate mode if:

• Constant - you may be able to reduce the jerking, I will tag @AAProds on this, he may be able to help with using 3rd party software that can do this.
   
• Variable - this is more difficult as you now have 2 variables to fix, ie conversion to Constant framerate and then fixing the jerkiness.

When watching the program on UKTV Play does it also show the jerkiness when viewed on the computer?

John EB
Forum Moderator

Hi John,

I will need to check that out on Mediainfo tonight and get back to you on it.

Regarding your other questions, I have not tried watching it on a computer monitor but, again, I will try that tonight and get back to you.

@jak.willis

Hi.

You can't de-interlace an already converted file from progressive. You could add it again but there would be little benefit to doing that.

What you may be experiencing is a difference in screen refresh rates if you have an older TV as the UK broadcast standard is still 50Hz and not the 60Hz or higher of computer screen monitors.

I don't know if the newer Sky or Virgin TV set top boxes are different but our Virgin box is still 50Hz.

If there was a problem between the interlaced and progressive versions it would show as jagged tearing between the top and bottom scan of the interlaced imaged, not a juddering of the image as such.

If the file is playing back smoothly on your computer monitor then the interlacing is not your problem.

Ray.

Good points. I could try switching my TV’s refresh rate from 50Hz to 60Hz, and see if that makes any difference.

@jak.willis

Jak, in video, anything is possible, including re-interlacing, however "normal" Progressive shouldn't be jerky; the problem was no doubt introduced during the de-interlacing process. In the past, some TV broadcasts were progressive; I once had a Progressive advert in the middle of an Interlaced program! That was confusing.

I suggest you join https://www.videohelp.com/ and pose your question there. The wizards there will be all over this like a rash and give you a solution in quick time. What you should do is cut out a 30 second piece of your episode and post that so it can be analysed. If you could post the Mediainfo report on the episode here, I'll then give you a program to losslessly cut the 30 second piece. It can't be re-encoded.

@jak.willis

Greetings Jak,

Out of curiosity, what frames per second (fps) does mediainfo give for the downloaded file? Usually, UKTV Play's videos play quite smoothly on my computer monitor with no upscaling facility as such. Maybe your USB stick isn't fast enough for your TV or the video resolution.

I've used UKTV Play (web and app) for some years and I've never found a way to download a program; it's purely online streaming. I assume you're using s ripping app? If so can you change settings?

I see you've had problems with UKTV before (https://www.magix.info/us/forum/poor-picture-quality-on-an-sd-tv--1322615/ and https://www.magix.info/us/forum/question-regarding-video-upscaling--1305766/?page=2#ca1809935).

AndyW

@jak.willis

Greetings Jak,

Out of curiosity, what frames per second (fps) does mediainfo give for the downloaded file? Usually, UKTV Play's videos play quite smoothly on my computer monitor with no upscaling facility as such. Maybe your USB stick isn't fast enough for your TV or the video resolution.

I've used UKTV Play (web and app) for some years and I've never found a way to download a program; it's purely online streaming. I assume you're using s ripping app? If so can you change settings?

I see you've had problems with UKTV before (https://www.magix.info/us/forum/poor-picture-quality-on-an-sd-tv--1322615/ and https://www.magix.info/us/forum/question-regarding-video-upscaling--1305766/?page=2#ca1809935).

AndyW

Hi Andy,

To be honest, I am always having problems with UKTV. The other problem I have is that when watching the Freeview broadcasts of Classic EastEnders on UKTV Drama channel, the picture quality is terrible and has been getting steadily worse over the past 6 months. I have assumed that the issue there is due to the fact that they are broadcasting in a very low bitrate compared to the BBC, hence the poor picture quality.

I have recently contacted UKTV themselves to address the poor quality, but they came back saying that they couldn’t find a cause for it on their end and so therefore it must be something wrong on my end. Why they say they can’t find a cause I have no idea because, to me, the answer is obvious. They are compressing the hell out of the broadcasts. And then factor in the TV upscaling, makes it look even worse.

Going back to the subject of Classic EastEnders on UKTV Play, Mediainfo states that the frame rate of the downloaded videos is 25fps. Somebody else requested I post a screenshot of the Mediainfo report on here, which I will do later on this evening.

Yes, I am using StreamFab to rip the files from UKTV Play. As far as I’ve seen, the only thing it lets you change is the resolution & bitrate to download in, with the best/max being 1024x576. But whether that is because the episodes on UKTV Play themselves are in 1024x576 max, I do not know.

@jak.willis

Hi.

Looking at your last reply I think you would be better off using a screen recorder where you could at least match your monitors resolution and frame rate as well as the bit rate of the recording.

Ray.

@AAProds @johnebaker

Here is what Mediainfo says about one of the episodes downloaded from UKTV Play:

@jak.willis

Hi.

Looking at your last reply I think you would be better off using a screen recorder where you could at least match your monitors resolution and frame rate as well as the bit rate of the recording.

Ray.

Hi Ray,

Yes, but I am watching them on my TV.

@jak.willis

Yes, but I am watching them on my TV.

And apparently at half the frame rate of the refresh rate of your TV screen according to your files MediaInfo log.

I don't see UK TV Play as listed as supported on the StreamFab website. Maybe this is why the quality is not what it should be.

Also the bit rate seems a bit low to me for a quality render but I will leave @AAProds or @johnebaker to decide on that aspect of the MediaInfo data as I don't personally work at those resolutions.

Ray.

@jak.willis

Yes, but I am watching them on my TV.

And apparently at half the frame rate of the refresh rate of your TV screen according to your files MediaInfo log.

I don't see UK TV Play as listed as supported on the StreamFab website. Maybe this is why the quality is not what it should be.

Also the bit rate seems a bit low to me for a quality render but I will leave @AAProds or @johnebaker to decide on that aspect of the MediaInfo data as I don't personally work at those resolutions.

Ray.

 

 

Hi again Ray,

This evening I watched an episode actually on the UKTV Play app itself, and the motion issue is present there too.

I tried switching the TV’s refresh rate to 60Hz to see if that made any difference but it didn’t. And I also tried switching it to 24Hz which made the motion look 100 times worse.

@jak.willis

Hi Jak.

If it is looking bad on the player then I doubt there is anything you can do.

If newer episodes look better than older ones it could also be the older episodes were recorded on older cameras.

The BBC itself no longer uses interlacing for production. All of its current cameras are progressive and have been for some time but still interlace for broadcast. There are associated problems with doing that. You may want to read this BBC article.

Ray.

@jak.willis

If you intend "progressing' 😂 this, you can create a small sample of your video with AVIDemux. Download the portable version as a ZIP file to any convenient location (that's if you don't want to actually install it).

Use Windows right-click "Extract All..." into the folder it suggests.

Run the EXE file in that folder and open your video.

Using the timeline at the bottom, drag the cursor to select (the blue box) a part of your video with lots of movement; use the A and B keys to set the start and end of the selection area. At the bitrate of your file, I suggest choosing around 2 minutes of video.

On the Output Format dropdown, choose MP4 Muxer and then Save your clipped file.

You'll then have an unaltered 2 minute clip for analysis.

Post that over on Videohelp and you should get a diagnosis from the experts fairly quickly.

@jak.willis

Greetings Jak,

Out of curiosity, what frames per second (fps) does mediainfo give for the downloaded file? Usually, UKTV Play's videos play quite smoothly on my computer monitor with no upscaling facility as such. Maybe your USB stick isn't fast enough for your TV or the video resolution.

I've used UKTV Play (web and app) for some years and I've never found a way to download a program; it's purely online streaming. I assume you're using s ripping app? If so can you change settings?

I see you've had problems with UKTV before (https://www.magix.info/us/forum/poor-picture-quality-on-an-sd-tv--1322615/ and https://www.magix.info/us/forum/question-regarding-video-upscaling--1305766/?page=2#ca1809935).

AndyW

I hope you're doing well. I wanted to share my recent experience with UKTV Play and seek some advice. I downloaded a video from the platform and checked its details using MediaInfo. Surprisingly, the frame rate was not as smooth as I expected. On my computer monitor, which lacks upscaling capabilities, UKTV Play's videos usually play smoothly. I wonder if the issue lies with the USB stick I used for playback or the video resolution itself.

As a long-time user of UKTV Play, I've never come across an option to download programs directly. I primarily rely on online streaming. Are you using a specific ripping app to download the content? If so, perhaps there are settings that can be adjusted to improve the quality.

I recall encountering some difficulties with UKTV Play in the past, particularly regarding picture quality on an SD TV. There was also a discussion about video upscaling that I participated in. It's clear that video quality has been a recurring concern.

Thank you for your attention and any insights or suggestions you may have regarding these matters.

Best regards,