0: Honor Pulldown Flags
1: Force Film
2: Ignore Pulldown Flags
AVC, MPG, and VC1 video each provide syntax elements that enable a single field of any frame to be repeated
automatically during display ("pulled down"). The extra fields do not
occupy space in the video stream but are simply
created by copying when the stream is decoded and displayed. This facility is most often used to display
film rate clips (23.976 fps) at the NTSC rate (29.97 fps), a process called 3:2 pulldown. In practice,
however, pulldown in various different patterns is commonly encountered. It can be used, for example, to
display 25 fps PAL at the NTSC rate. One way to learn about "telecining" and "3:2 pulldown" is
to perform a search for those terms using our friend Google.
Understanding the theory and practice required to properly set this option for a given application
is nontrivial. Here we can only define the operations and give some general guidance. There is ample
additional material available in existing guides.
The fieldop setting allows the user to specify how the pulldown flags are to be handled.
- Honor Pulldown Flags (fieldop=0) - The pulldown flags (if any) are obeyed and the fields are
repeated. This means that
the frame-served video will appear exactly as it is intended to appear on the final display device.
Therefore, if you have a 3:2 pulled-down clip, you'll get the standard repeating pattern of 3 progressive frames
followed by 2 interlaced frames. If you have PAL, you'll just get the encoded pictures with no
repeated fields (because PAL has no pulldown flags to honor).
The frame rate will always be the same as the display frame rate of the source.
- Ignore Pulldown Flags (fieldop=2) - The pulldown flags are ignored. This allows one to obtain the
raw encoded pictures, with no repeated fields. However, because repeated fields intended for display are
ignored and not displayed, the resulting frame rate may differ from the source frame rate. It may even
vary throughout the clip, due to irregular patterns of pulldown flags. If the pulldown is irregular,
use of this option will cause the audio-video sync to change at different parts of the clip, and most
likely sync will not be acceptable. This option is mostly intended for power users, who would use it as
a diagnostic aid for inspecting the encoded pictures. Although this option ignores the flags, they
are still stored in the DGI file although DGDecodeNV will ignore them.
- Force Film (fieldop=1) - This option is intended for the special case of film content encoded at
23.976 fps but pulled down for display at 29.97 fps, i.e., 3:2 pulldown. This option will restore the
23.976 fps film rate while keeping audio and video in sync throughout the clip. This option works by ignoring
pulldown flags and adjusting the frame rate back to the film rate.
Do not use this option on non-3:2 pulled-down material, and, therefore, never use it on PAL.
The fieldop is perhaps the most important option to understand when using DGDecNV.
Most users should first preview the
project and inspect the DGIndexNV Information Panel. If the clip is 29.976fps, and the Field Repeats box in the
Information Panel indicates field repeats consistent with 3:2 pulldown,
then it is likely that the clip can be treated as 3:2 pulldown material, and so Force Film (fieldop=1)
should be selected. Force Film can also be used on hybrid material and will decimate frames as required in video sections to maintain the film rate.
Otherwise, then you should leave fieldop=0 (Honor Pulldown Flags) for generation of the DGI file. If the result is combed (because the source is interlaced, hybrid interlaced/3:2, field blended, etc.), you may want to apply a deinterlacer or inverse telecine (IVTC) filter in your Avisynth script.
Almost invariably, if you know the source is not all 3:2 pulled-down NTSC, you will want to select Honor Pulldown Flags and then post-process as required. Keep in mind that if there are no pulldown flags, there is nothing to honor, so this option just delivers the encoded frames.
fieldop=2 (Ignore Pulldown Flags) should be necessary only for advanced users who want to see just the exact coded pictures in the video stream.