Looks good on cam LCD, bad in FCP capture window

[markbeckettsr]

Hello, I am a newbie with probably a simple problem I can't solve. My footage looks good on my tape when I view it on the camera (dvx100b). When I capture in FCP 6.0.2 it looks like the capture has vertically staggered the image. Shot straight 60i (I am 99% sure). I know the reds cause problems but there was no option to change.

I guess my question is why such a difference and am I capturing incorrectly? I used the DV NTSC easy setup and all other footage I captured is cool.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Shane Ross]

Yup...typical noob question. Don't worry, we all asked it at one point or another...

#2 Blurry Playback

Shane's Stock Answer #2: Blurry playback

ONLY JUDGE THE QUALITY OF YOUR MATERIAL ON AN EXTERNAL NTSC MONITOR, OR AT LEAST A TV.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24787

Video playback requires large amounts of data and many computations. In order to maintain frame rate and be viewable at a normal size, only about one-fourth of the DV data is used in displaying the movie to the screen. However, the DV footage is still at full quality, and is best viewed thru a TV or NTSC monitor routed thru your camera or deck.

The canvas shows you what happens after the codec you are working with has been applied. The viewer shows you the material in its native format. There are a couple things you can do to make it look better:

1. Disable overlays on the canvas
2. Make sure you've rendered everything (no green bars at the top of the timeline
3. Check your RT settings and make sure they are set to Unlimited RT, and that playback video quality is set to HIGH or DYNAMIC.

But still, your computer monitor will not show you a full quality image. For that you need an external monitor and a proper output device, such as those made by Canopus (ADVC 110, 300…only for DV), AJA, Black-Magic or Matrox.