Tips on FFMPEG encoding for interlaced sources

[Koopa Luath]

When encoding interlaced video files, I personally swear by FFMPEG. For over two months, I've been using Hauppauge's WinTV-HVR 9550 TV tuner to capture quality true HD footage from my PBS station–and when I was on vacation in Birmingham over the Easter weekend, I captured the same from my sister's PBS station–and then encoding the results via FFMPEG using the Yadif filter. Below is the formula I've been using for each encode, entered into Command Prompt:

ffmpeg -i in.ts -vf yadif=1 -acodec copy -vcodec libx264 -preset superfast -x264-params cabac=0 out.mp4

Tips on encoding interlaced non-broadcast video via FFMPEG will come later.