4.5

137Compressor User Guide
3. Click the “Field order” pop-up menu, then choose a progressive or interlaced
frame rate.
If the current setting doesn’t allow field order modification, this control remains
dimmed. If you want to convert a file with an interlaced format into a progressive format,
see Use deinterlacing in Compressor.
Note: The properties in the Retiming section of the General inspector are always affected
by the “Frame rate” property, as well as the “Retiming quality” property in the
Video inspector.
Use deinterlacing in Compressor
Video to be played on traditional NTSC or PAL televisions is encoded using an interlaced
frame rate. Each frame is actually made up of two half-frames called fields. Each field
contains half the frame lines; the odd (or upper) field contains lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and so
on, and the even (or lower) field contains lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on. When the video is
played back, the TV displays the fields in an alternating pattern, which creates an effective
illusion of smooth movement. Viewing interlaced video on a computer screen that displays
both fields simultaneously may reveal a combing effect.
You can deinterlace, or remove the fields from an interlaced video clip, by converting it to a
progressive frame rate. The video settings provided in Compressor contain a “Field order”
pop-up menu in the Video inspector that you can use to turn interlacing on or off for the
transcoded file. For more information, see the topic that covers the format you’re using for
transcoding, for example, QuickTime Movie settings in Compressor or MPEG-2 setting
in Compressor.