Something horribly wrong with FCP and the color red

Okay, look -- the problem is obviously not related to the HVX, the DVX, standard-def DV, or anything else like that. It has nothing to do with anything other than a Mac.

How do we know this? Because of this:
pictexamplehd3.jpg


Right there, in one fell swoop, we have totally eliminated a huge source of potential confusion. There is obviously an issue. Narrow down the variables and you'll be much closer to finding out what the root cause of it is.

I do not have an answer for you as to what's causing it. But I feel very confident in saying that you can narrow this down to Apple's Quicktime player. It's not due to a DVD or an HVX or a DVX or a PD150 or a live broadcast of an NBA game or FCP itself. Zak's picture shows us that the identical same source footage, played on two different systems, is giving two different results. From an outsiders perspective, it seems obvious that there must be some setting in the quicktime player that is telling it to smooth or not smooth the chroma.

Look at the Quicktime player. That is where you're going to find the answer. And IINM the way Apple's architecture works, everything relies on the Quicktime player: FCP, the DVD player, everything goes through Quicktime. So find the "high quality" or "chroma smoothing" option in the player somewhere, and it should solve the problem for everything.
 
Barry_Green said:
Zak's picture shows us that the identical same source footage, played on two different systems, is giving two different results. From an outsiders perspective, it seems obvious that there must be some setting in the quicktime player that is telling it to smooth or not smooth the chroma.
Click to expand...

I wish it was that easy. The clip he posted was the High-Def QT download version of the trailer, not the SD one I originally took my grab from. That example is comparing apples to oranges - not to mention I don't think there is a "high quality" or "chroma smoothing" option in the player anywhere... if there is they've hidden it really well.
 
Quicktime preferences, 1st page, invisibly cloaked as the third option down is:

'Use high-quality video settings when available'
 
Red, the guy tried to help. Don't go calling that "condescension". IN fact, try to have a better attitude overall -- these people are here to help you and are trying to get to the bottom of this. If you can't accept that graciously, think about moving on to another forum. Sheesh.
 
As has been pointed out, it's not a bug unless it's reproducible, and repeatable.

I, like many others on here do not have the problem.

Hence there is a set of circumstances in your setup, whether it's some fancy or rogue codec clashing with DVCProHD (have you tried temp moving all the other codecs from /Library/Quicktime and just leaving the DVCPro ones?), or graphics card/drivers, whatever, that is screwing up your setup.

Start with a raw system on a spare harddisk, boot from it, and build your production workflow again from scratch with bare essentials, ie only FCP to start with.

Add things to the mix you need, one at a time and see where the problem pops up.


And lighten up a bit, please...
 
I actually did this on a spare drive, and I couldn't reproduce the lego red issue.

I also think there is some 3rd party factor causing this.
 
im having similar issues. i wonder if its codec version related. im doing a video where i have to show the contributing companies logos as the end. two of them being shell and exxonmobil - both VERY RED! and both look jaggy as heck.

the logos are both clean vector images from illustrator and look perfect in after effects.

here is where it gets odd. in quicktime player (ive exported at highest quality from AE as animation, photojpeg, apple pro res, apple intermediate and dvcprohd codecs) all the codecs produce the jaggies EXCEPT apple intermediate.

so i thought i'd licked it.

NOPE.

when imported into FCP, even the apple intermediate version that looked fine in qt player, looks all jaggy. dunno if its a quicktime issue, fcp issue or what. but from what i gather it has nothing to do with the hvx

------------ UPDATE
i just took the project (on fw800 drive) from my g5 quad to an identically configured powerbook g4 and the red issue is actually somewhat worse. may have something to do with the powerbooks screen res or video ram.
 
Last edited:
Watching the supplemental stuff on the Rambo Blu-Ray disc (using a PS3 and an HD projector). The 'weaponry' section had some up-res'd ntsc stuff that was red brick city.

This is a real problem and I can't believe that Mac hasn't addressed it for over six months now.... embarrassing and shameful.

xray said:
The 'modern' color problems I have -see- are H.264 codec related.
Exceptions exist: Good monitor: ? http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/thefall/hd/
Click to expand...

The HD stuff doesn't have the problem nearly as bad as the NTSC.....
 
I dont know why, maybe the broadcast safe, but the clips rendered in color with no effect are less blocky. I gang the original with the color one, maintening in color the original setting (no uncompessed 10 422 or aplpe prores hq) and there was an improvement. Somebody can give a try for feedback?
 
Massive ignorance and rudeness in this thread. The answer is ALL OF THE ABOVE. It starts with the acquisition codec. DV50 was about the best at handling reds, DV25 was pretty bad and DVCproHD is not much better. Even Varicam footage gets pretty nasty is shadowy reds. When you start to compress these reds, they get worse. Doesnt matter whether it is to DVD, another codec, cable, satellite, etc.

You cant watch something on TV that is being highly compressed over the air or thru a tiny wire and comment much on the program it was edited on. You cant tell what part of the chain is adding which imperfections.

I run occasionally into clips that dont look great in QT but work fine elsewhere. The blocky red issue is contributed to by Panny, the codec, the compressor, the broadcaster, etc. etc. etc. Some see it worse than others, some people are knowningly or unknowingly adding chroma smoothing filters either on their players, their editor or in their video card settings.



ash =o)
 
I am on a Mac and I fail to see any of the blockiness that people are referring to. I looked at the movie trailer in h.264, and normal HIGH...and saw no blockiness. I am looking at these red images and they look fine.

Red is a difficult color in general for video, and especially the compressed codecs. For DV it is downright icky. Make sure you are legal, that your saturation in the reds is at a decent level and you should be fine.
 
ok. here is my problem. movie rendered out of AE lossless+alpha. looks good when imported into FCP (via viewer) but when dropped onto a dvcproHD timeline and rendered it goes to hell.

see image:

redblocks.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top