7D HD footage converted to SD nightmare

T

thome

Well-known member
Ok i was really excited when i bought my 7D..i get beautiful images on camera...i use the flat settings.

MY WORK FLOW
so i convert my clips using neo scene to AVI then i ,match my project settings to the converted clips,i edit and color it as usual and i still get beautiful colors on the preview window.

COLOR CORRECTION
Ok im used to color correcting my footage in the same way... remove noise,sharpen then use magic bullet.Im having issues with neat video tho as it makes my render much much longer...like 3hours.

RENDER SETTINGS
I render my music video as AVI DV PAL as we dont broadcast in HD here in our country.

aftter rendering i find my footage to be of a worse quality...softer,dull and basically looks washed out nothing compared to what i was seeing in my preview window in full HD.When i try to render a small part as HD its really beautiful.

The annoying part is that iv soo far renderd 3 music videos,same work flow,same everything and one came out quite impressively and the two others are still a struggle tho all footage are well lit,in focus and shot with the flat setting.
So its like im playing Russian rollet here,i don't know what the out come will be,even though i have good looking footage.

Im not sure if im missing something or id rather shoot on my dvx on SD with an adapter than struggle with converting HD to SD.

Pliz advice
 
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It's always going to be softer in DV; it'll look almost blurred compared to HD -- especially as you exported to an interlaced format which needs blurring to avoid flicker.

As for being "dull," you're losing a lot of color info, too, because you're losing a lot of pixels with the color in them.

But yes; screen shots would help.
 
David Jimerson said:
It's always going to be softer in DV; it'll look almost blurred compared to HD -- especially as you exported to an interlaced format which needs blurring to avoid flicker.

As for being "dull," you're losing a lot of color info, too, because you're losing a lot of pixels with the color in them.

But yes; screen shots would help.
Click to expand...
Will put up screen shots...just wondering though,is it better to shoot in HD then down convert to SD or would i rather just shoot in SD?
 
I've never tried outputting in the format you are using, (AVI PAL) but I have never had any problem with SD from HD. Sure, it loses a bit, but I own both a 7D and a HMC150 and the results are always wonderful in SD. Very vivid colors (if they were vivid to start with). I would not ever consider shooting in SD *unless* I had an assignment (like you state for broadcast in your country), had the gear to do it (you say you have a DVX), and thought you could turn around the assignment faster by doing it in SD (file sizes are smaller, less hassle). For long term use, I would always shoot HD now that I have it, because of future value of the content. Your HD footage will always hold *more detail* because the resolution is so much better. Audiences already are expecting HD like quality in many places, as they see it on the big screen, and IMHO SD output on a screen already looks like an antique process. Sort of a stylistic element, so it 'gets in the way' unless it's used appropriately (historic footage, etc.). But that's not necessarily true with high enough quality gear.


I would post the two screen captures so we can give you some feedback (though it sounds like you have a good deal of experience if you have been shooting with DVX), and keep working on finding the right combination. A friend of mine struggled getting her HD output tuned right for SD, but in her case she was seeing differences between the displays she would use. Some, like Sony, can alter the image to 'perfect' it .

To be sure, under artificial light conditions in places I've shot like hotels, the color spectrum of the 7D 'mushes up' meaning that I get some really awful colors if a subject wears an orange color shirt (happened last month, the talent was a musician wearing an orange long sleeve shirt with blue jeans). it looked really ugly and unclear onscreen. I don't think that's what you are seeing though.
 
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