Also the dvd came out 8 seconds shorter than the input avi length, but the film was all there. Another thing I wrongly thought was NTSC 29.97fps would make a video length slightly longer compared to 24fps or 23.976fps.
I left the deinteracing set at default 'VSO'(is this auto detect?) during the test encoding by the way, as my expected output was interlaced NTSC in anycase and this setting would have no bearing on the encoding. The end result of a mixed interlaced pattern with progressive was rather interesting though.
Also as a further test to lessen the interlaced artifacts, I changed the output to PAL instead, and the DVD came out interestingly the exact length of 126 mins(I expected 4% shorter video length) with no high pitched chipmunk voices with the frame speed up, despite the 23.96fps to 25fps PAL pulldown, as reported in the log. The SRT was also still in perfect synch. The result this time was 27% interlaced with 73% progressive. I now cannot decide which looks better the NTSC or the PAL!
