I can’t answer you on the other questions you got as I got zero knowledge on Telecine.
but on this one, I actually recommend if you are planning to go that route of de-interlace your video 1st as a separate process, to de-interlace with an external program 1st using the QTGMC + bob method (not sure how it plays well with Telecine, maybe the telecine people here can comment) and not through TVAI. export it in a “lossless” video (see screen shots)
for this example I’ll be using “Hybrid” which is pretty popular tool and it is a freeware.
De-interlacing filter settings:
Lossless Settings (pick one of the two lossless encoding options x264 or FFV1, both are fine)
H.264 / x264
OR (in this one, if you choose, make sure to output as “avi”, not “mp4”, under “Base” tab, bottom left)
FFV1
to select what encoding format you use (e.g. lossless x264 or FFV1) for the two lossless options above.
NOTE: bear in mind, encoding in “lossless” would generate large file size, so make sure you have enough storage available.
once you de-interlaced your video, you can feed TVAI with your de-interlaced video and use your filter/preset setting of choice.
P.S. I have noticed personally that “Original Pixel” settings in TVAI generated sharper and slightly more detailed/quality results then selecting “Square Pixel” on my 1998 Video8 4:3 576i camcorder movies
you can test both for yourself and preview both on TVAI and if you wish you could also use a compare tool to check the results to see for yourself if you notice any difference between the two (that would save you tons of time). or just playback the 2s / 5s preview you generate from both one right after the other to see if you spot any difference in quality.
Video-Compare - Video compare tool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhyEcAELakU&t=67s - how to use preview mode
