Capture options help ASAP!!!

In adobe premiere 6.5 what do I set the fields as for capturing? Also, what do I set the pixel aspect ratio as for capturing? Can someone give me the solution? Thanks.

There seem to be very few knowledgable Premiere 6.x users, here -- if they're here, they're pretty darn silent. Your question about "fields" is not particularly detailed. Perhaps if you gave some examples for settings you have questions about, someone who knows something about capture (but not necessarily the specifics about Premiere 6.5) could help guide you.

To be more specific: Once I have a project opened I go to "project settings" and then go to Keyframing and rendering. It asks for fields, I can drop down to "No fields", "Upper field first", or "Lower field first". I am not really sure what to I should set it at. Also, I don't know what to set it at in the capture window. I am using Premeire 6.5, can someone please help me? Thanks.

A video picture is made up of lines. Okay, I know you're thinking "duh... and just what does this have to do with my question?" Just hang in there. On a picture tube, these lines are formed by an electron beam scanning across the inside surface of the tube from left to right. NTSC video (the standard in the US) has a frame rate of 30 (actually 29.97) frames per second. Each frame is a complete picture, but it is composed of two interlaced "fields". Each field is composed of every other line of the complete picture. The fields are displayed at (surprise) two times the frame rate.

The reason why video has interlaced fields dates back to the early days of television. At that time, picture tube technology was such that if the electron beam scanned every line, instead of every other line, the top part of the picture would already be fading away before the electron beam reached the bottom of the screen. To compensate, the interlacing scheme was devised. With interlacing, the beam gets to the bottom of the screen in half the time, and then starts over again at the top, filling in the lines skipped on the previous pass.

The "lower" field consists of lines 2, 4, 6, etc. The "upper" field consists of lines 1, 3, 5, etc. NTSC is said to be lower (or even) field dominant, because the field containing the even lines is displayed first, followed by the field containing the odd lines. The PAL and SECAM video standards (used in most other parts of the world) are said to be upper field dominant, in that the odd lines come first, followed by the even lines.

When rendering digital video, the field dominance designates which field will be inserted into the output stream first. Why does this matter? The fields are ordered in time. Huh? The first field of a frame represents the image as it appeared a fraction of a second (1/60 sec for NTSC) before the second field in the same frame. If you inadvertantly reverse the field order, this result is usually manifested as "jagged edges" and similar sorts of visual distortion.

In general, if you're capturing video from an NTSC camera and producing video that will be displayed on an NTSC monitor, you want to set Premiere to capture (and render) the lower field first. The opposite holds true for PAL and SECAM. If you have an NTSC clip that you want to render for output on a PAL/SECAM monitor, you want to reverse the field order so that the resulting fields are in the correct temporal order. If the field order is switched between capturing and rendering steps (for example, upper field first on capture, lower field first on rendering) the result will be a jagged looking video. If you have clip that looks really jagged when played back on a (CRT) monitor, you might try rendering it with the field order reversed to fix it. Some cameras get it wrong, some capture programs get it wrong, and so forth. If you have jagged-looking on a CRT monitor, reversing the field order is a good thing to try.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, but what would "no fields" be for? Also, what would I set the fields for for titles in premiere 6.5? (I'm editing in NTSC) Thanks once again.

I suspect that the No Fields option gives 30 frames per second, where each frame is output progressively (i.e. line 1, then line 2, line 3, 4, 5, 6)... no interlacing.

I would try rendering title clips lower field first, and if that produces jagged output, try the No Fields option.

The best way to learn is to experiment. It won't cost you anything but time to try rendering the same clip different ways, and view it on a television monitor. If you have an LCD or plasma display on your computer, be sure to compare the output on a (CRT) television monitor, also. You can't hurt the monitor by choosing the "wrong" field order.

The problem is that I don't have a Television hooked up to my Computer, so it's very hard to tell a difference on the computer. Is it possible to use my TV by hooking it up to a Pyro ADS A/V link? Or do I need a separate card in my computer for that.

You can use the ADS Pyro A/V link to preview playback on a TV monitor. If your camcorder has pass-thru capability, you could use it instead. You really must have a CRT NTSC monitor available in order to get good video editing results. Computer monitors (CRT, Plasma, or LCD) don't give a good representation of what the output will look like on a television.

Thanks, I have 2 problems though 1, I can't find the Pyro ADS A/V link for less than $200. And 2, I wouldn't want to use my camcorder, since I would be editing for extendended periods of time, and as I result may cause my camera to malfuntion in the future.