Why does my EX1 footage look so bad on my computer monitor?

[Michael B. McGee]

i know this may seem like a very easy question to some of you, but not to me and hopefully not to others struggling with the same issue. the footage from EX1(1080P HQ) looks like crap on my computer LCD monitor. is doesn't matter if i'm viewing it in the Clip Browser or in Premiere. it just looks awful. very noisy. why is this? here's my computer specs if it helps decipher or explain the reasoning:

Dell Inspiron 530 Intel Core2 Quad processor Q6600 @ 2.4 Ghz 8mb cache
3GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800Mhz
128MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro
22" Flat Panel 1680x1050


thanks in advance!!!

-mike

[Michael B. McGee]

anyone??? is it that rudimentary of a question?

[MitchLewis]

You viewing at more than 100%? That would make it look like crap.

[Stevet]

It's to general of a statement. Please show us some footage. Vimeo is free and even allows us to download an HD version.

It looks awful an noisy?

I'm not seeing any of this.

Is there "some" noise? - of course there is...
I can tell you based on the many cameras I've been around, the EX1 is one of the cleanest, especially in the price range.
The new HVX200A is as clean as the EX1. Barry has also mentioned this.

[Michael B. McGee]

i know it might be a general statement but there might be a general answer. as i've already stated, the screen res is 1680x1050. i shoot in 1080P. could my screen res be the problem? i've been reading about DVI vs HDMI connectors. could one of these be better then the other? i've also read something about a HDCP compatible video card as well as a HDCP compatible connector. do these HDCP items really make a difference?

[Michael B. McGee]

viewing at less than 100% in Premiere and Normal mode in Clip Browser.

[Stevet]

as i've already stated, the screen res is 1680x1050.

Really?, this was not mentioned in this thread.

One word: scaling

Your monitor is poor and is displaying scaling artifacts. 1920x1200 monitors are able to display 1:1 pixel for pixel, they look a lot better. As far as noise levels, it's probably due to a monitor or video card gamma setting.

[Michael B. McGee]

Really?, this was not mentioned in this thread.

One word: scaling

Your monitor is poor and is displaying scaling artifacts. 1920x1200 monitors are able to display 1:1 pixel for pixel, they look a lot better. As far as noise levels, it's probably due to a monitor or video card gamma setting.
ok. so a 1920x1200 monitor will help, but shouldn't my footage look alright when viewing at less then 100% on my monitor?

thanks.

[adamr316]

I'm using a 22" Flat Panel 1680x1050 monitor as well. Footage from the EX1 (especially with gain added) does look noisier than viewing the same stuff on a real HD television. LCD or projection. Why? Probably because I'm sitting less than 2 feet from this small monitor and a few feet back from my big one.

Add to the fact that it's not 1920x1080 native and of a different color space than HD and that's probably the reasons. But mainly because of our viewing distance.

[Michael B. McGee]

I'm using a 22" Flat Panel 1680x1050 monitor as well. Footage from the EX1 (especially with gain added) does look noisier than viewing the same stuff on a real HD television. LCD or projection. Why? Probably because I'm sitting less than 2 feet from this small monitor and a few feet back from my big one.

Add to the fact that it's not 1920x1080 native and of a different color space than HD and that's probably the reasons. But mainly because of our viewing distance.

short viewing distance makes sense as well as monitor res. thanks.

[Stevet]

ok. so a 1920x1200 monitor will help, but shouldn't my footage look alright when viewing at less then 100% on my monitor?

thanks.

No because your monitor has to rescale the image for 1680x1050. I've seen poor scaling and it's not pretty. What does 1280x720 look like?

[MitchLewis]

I agree with Stevet......scaling. I'd get a Matrox MXO or MXO2 to hook up to your computer monitor. It will preform the scaling you need to make it look nice.

[Michael B. McGee]

No because your monitor has to rescale the image for 1680x1050. I've seen poor scaling and it's not pretty. What does 1280x720 look like?

720P looks ok, but i need to shoot a test of the same scene in both formats to get an accurate evaluation.

[Michael B. McGee]

ok, i'm pretty sure its the video card. can someone recommend a video card can handle playing 1920x1080 video and make it look like its HD? i hear the memory is important, ie: 512MB. i think the interface is key as well, ie: PCI Express x16 or x16 2.0.


thanks.

[Iudex]

the video card how can it be the video card? if you play a new game with an old video card it would look good, but unplayable due to poor framerate.

is your video playback stuttery or is it looking bad?

[Michael B. McGee]

playback isn't stuttery or jittery. it looks like SD footage not HD.

[bob jackson]

In the Mac world FCP will only preview at the quality of the video card/ram etc.
Sometimes it will only play at 15 fps instead of the 30 fps of the original.
To see the actual quality one needs a very expensive dedicated video monitor.

[MitchLewis]

I've got one of those "expensive dedicated video monitors". You could send me some of your raw footage and I could take a look at it if you'd like. Or you could buy Roxio Toast 10 and burn a Blu-Ray disc and video on someone's Blu-Ray player on a consumer plasma. You don't need a blu-ray burner to burn a blu-ray disc with Toast. You don't even need Blu-Ray media. It works great.

http://www.macvideo.tv/dvd-authoring/features/index.cfm?articleId=112361&pagType=samecat

[Bassman2003]

ok. so a 1920x1200 monitor will help, but shouldn't my footage look alright when viewing at less then 100% on my monitor?

thanks.

I don't see how scaling would come into play if you are viewing your footage in Premiere. The preview window would be about 500 pixels wide in normal editing situations.

Are you viewing the footage full screen?

Computers use a different color space than televisions, so the footage will never look the same as when played through a DVD or Blu-ray on a television or a proper video preview monitor.

But they should retain detail as they high resolution devices.

Output a full resolution file in Windows media or Quicktime and play that file in their respective player on your computer and see how the footage looks.

[Michael B. McGee]

Output a full resolution file in Windows media or Quicktime and play that file in their respective player on your computer and see how the footage looks.

wait a minute. i'm confused. are you telling me that footage played in Clip Browser and Premiere is going to look different then that same footage output to .mov or .wav files played on the same cpu and monitor?

-Mike