on tape- it looks great, once captured- it looks terrible!

B

BearSuit

New member
Hey all. I've been experimenting with different methods of capturing footage from my HVX into Final Cut, but no matter what I choose, the result is the same: compressed-looking.

I shot 480i at 24p onto DV tape on a Panasonic HVX, and playback onto a monitor looked beautiful. I captured using the DV NTSC Anamorphic preset, and the result looks like this: http://pbc-productions.com/chad5/nappy03.png

Terrible.

Am I doing something wrong?
 
Sorry I didn't elaborate. I've circled the 'problem areas' -> http://pbc-productions.com/chad5/nappy03.jpg

I haven't blown the image up, btw - that's what it looks like after I've captured it using the settings I described above.


Lots of edges have jaggies on them; the crystal clear definition from the tape is lost. It looks compressed, or interlaced.
 
BearSuit said:
Sorry I didn't elaborate. I've circled the 'problem areas' -> http://pbc-productions.com/chad5/nappy03.jpg

I haven't blown the image up, btw - that's what it looks like after I've captured it using the settings I described above.


Lots of edges have jaggies on them; the crystal clear definition from the tape is lost. It looks compressed, or interlaced.
Click to expand...


Try taking that footage that you've imported, burning it to a DVD using DVD studio pro, and then play it back on a TV. Sometimes my footage looks worse when played through quicktime on the computer, and then looks good again once output... not sure if that's the same thing here, but I'd try that first...
 
FILMGUY!!!!

HELP!!!! That feeling is coming over me again!!!!!!!!!

Look, you spent 8-10 thousand dollars of your parent's money and you have no idea what interlacing is?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

You shot video that is AT BEST (AT BEST) 720x480 and you are looking at it at 1166x655 (or bigger???)???????!!!!!! What capture settings are you REALLY using??? Is your canvas window set to 100%??? Even anamorphic is 853ishx480 and that will (slightly) degrade your video but...

Please!! This is friggin DV!!! Go take your nap and when you wake up start reading some books on video and the video process.

Oh -- and yes, do what Filmguy says. Not what I say... what Filmguy says. HE SHOULD HAVE SAID what I did... but he's not as grumpy as me.

Holy moly

CaptM
 
Don't mind Captain Mench...

But he is right that reading will get you a long ways. You might start with the appendix of volume 4 on your FCP manual about video formats, and you'll learn about interlacing there. Also Barry's HVX book. And the best thing to do is experiment as this is your first project. Like I said put it back out to DVD you'll probably find that the footage looks better.


You may be familiar with the creative process of video if you've worked with cheaper equipment. But once you start working with higher level gear you'll find there's a lot of technical stuff to learn. Don't let it dishearten you though, because once you learn it, it = greater creative potential.

But you do need to learn the technical stuff and that will take some time (and reading) on your part.
 
filmguy123 said:
Don't mind Captain Mench...

But he is right that reading will get you a long ways. You might start with the appendix of volume 4 on your FCP manual about video formats, and you'll learn about interlacing there. Also Barry's HVX book. And the best thing to do is experiment as this is your first project. Like I said put it back out to DVD you'll probably find that the footage looks better.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your thoughts. I have read up about my problem, but I thought that maybe there was something that wasn't in the manual that the experts might be able to tell me. Maybe it's the HVX's poor performance in low light, maybe it's the compression settings I chose, but when I burn the video to DVD, it still retains the jaggies.

I'm aware that DV is interlaced, but like VHS or any other tape format, you're not supposed to see it in your final product.
 
BearSuit said:
I'm aware that DV is interlaced, but like VHS or any other tape format, you're not supposed to see it in your final product.
Click to expand...

Well -- what the heck is 'your final product'???? Blowing it up twice as big and watching one still frame????

Have you - like professionals - been watching this on an external monitor? What makes you think even a computer monitor would be perfect for interlaced material. If 'your final product' was for web why not shoot progressive? Try best to shoot to match 'your final product'.

480i would be standard TV and not much more.

Blame the camera if you want. I blame someone else.

CaptM
 
The HVX does have poor low light performance, yes.

You are working with black & white, which makes the difference more noticeable.

Shooting 30p will help.

For 60i, you may try messing with the different settings for thin/mid/thick line thickness (check barry green's book).


You may try the "deinterlace" filter in FCP, found under effects>video, I believe.
 
Never Ever Ever trust the Canvas in FCP. If you want to see what it really looks like, hook your camera firewire up to your computer and then run the video output from the camera to a TV. It may not be 100%, but if your delivery is going to be shown on a TV, it will show you exactly what your video will look like. Computer monitors show both fields of an interlaced frame, so when you're on pause, you're essentially seeing alternating fields that are 1/60 of a second apart. Like filmguy said, deinterlacing the footage will get rid of those jaggies if your delivery is web.

As a side note, here's a nice article that explains it much better than I do, and it explains it for titles as well. http://lafcpug.org/Tutorials/basic_motion_bad_text.html
 
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