Interlaced video shots are difficult to track, especially if the camera moves a lot or moves quickly. For best results, deinterlace your images before attempting to track the shot.
Since there are many ways to deinterlace images, the best two methods are described here.
Interpolate scanlines on both fields
The best way to deinterlace is to use a utility that separates the even and odd fields into an image per field, and then interpolates the empty scanlines using neighboring scanlines.
Use any video editing or compositing tool that can separate the fields by interpolating the empty scanlines using neighboring scanlines.
Maya on Linux includes a utility called delace for this type of deinterlacing. For example, to deinterlace a sequence of images called sand.*.rgb, type the following command in a shell:
delace sand.rgb.0001 sand_fields.rgb.#
Before tracking, be sure to set the Time unit in Maya to the rate for fields (for example, 50 fields per second). Use the Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences, in the Settings category. As you work, remember that you are working with separate fields, not frames.
Interpolate scanlines on half of the fields
The next best way to deinterlace is to use the dmconvert utility (available on Linux only). The utility separates the even and odd fields, throws one of them away, and interpolates the empty scanlines using the neighboring scanlines.
For example, to deinterlace an NTSC video shot, type the following command as one line. Replace in.*.rgb with your source image name. If you are using PAL video, replace inil=odd with inil=even.
dmconvert -v -f rgb -p video,inil=odd,il=none -n out.####.rgb,start=1 in.*.rgb out.####.rgb
Because dmconvert throws out the even or odd fields, you must set the Time unit in Maya Live to the frame rate (for example, 25 frames per second) instead of the field rate (for example, 50). Use the Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences, in the Settings category. However, when you render, you will probably use the field rate.
The problem caused by solving at the frame rate is that the movement is interpolated for the missing field. The match should be close, but you might have some slippage on the fields which were discarded.