Arggggghh

[jpastuch]

I know I've asked so many questions on these boards, but I can't afford Barry Green's magic book. I'm broke and I just spent whatever money I had on a sound book.


Ok. I shot in 24pA on a DVX100 in 4:3 REGULAR (not fake widescreen). I captured into FCP with advanced pulldown selected. In a 23.98 timeline. I edited it. No frame drops.

Issues:

-There is one scene where I pan SLOWLY- in FCP it was sort of choppy inconsistently (like differently each time, as if it was just the preview). On the CRV monitor- smooth, no choppiness. On my junky old 4:3 TV at home- smooth.

-In several scenes, certain colors or patterns (like red and black) come out all square and pixelated looking or blocky. Other parts of the scene look fantastic though. I think this is called aliasing or something? Can someone can explain what this is and what tool removes it?

-I exported raw quality in DVD studio. Once again, on CRV and TV, great great great. On my laptop or when I export it as a high quality quicktime, choppy, grainy, overblown, overexposed.

One final question, because I'm having trouble finding threads about 4:3 footage (you can't search "4:3")- I realize older 4:3 TVs still have the "safezone". Obviously, on the computer, there is no safezone. Is there anyway I can export to DVD or quicktime for the internet to match the EXACT same dimensions you see on a tv? (for instance, you do not see the safezone) I realize I could crop, but wouldn't that mean lack of quality?


Sorry for so much. It's just, I finished this project and it means a lot to me, and things are still going wrong. The search function mostly gives me stuff about HD 16:9 footage.

If there are threads about this stuff, foregive me and do me a favor and link me to them, because I can't find them in FAQs or searches. Thanks again.

 

[Alex H.]

I know I've asked so many questions on these boards, but I can't afford Barry Green's magic book. I'm broke and I just spent whatever money I had on a sound book.


Ok. I shot in 24pA on a DVX100 in 4:3 REGULAR (not fake widescreen). I captured into FCP with advanced pulldown selected. In a 23.98 timeline. I edited it. No frame drops.

Issues:

-There is one scene where I pan SLOWLY- in FCP it was sort of choppy inconsistently (like differently each time, as if it was just the preview). On the CRV monitor- smooth, no choppiness. On my junky old 4:3 TV at home- smooth.

-In several scenes, certain colors or patterns (like red and black) come out all square and pixelated looking or blocky. Other parts of the scene look fantastic though. I think this is called aliasing or something? Can someone can explain what this is and what tool removes it?

-I exported raw quality in DVD studio. Once again, on CRV and TV, great great great. On my laptop or when I export it as a high quality quicktime, choppy, grainy, overblown, overexposed.

First, you need to remember these two truths about FCP/Quicktime:

What you see in the FCP desktop is not accurate by any means. It is a proxy that adjusts the color space to compensate for the fact that it's on a computer desktop, to try and approximate what it might look like in the real world (which it doesn't do too well). An external production monitor is the best way to see your video fro what it really is.

Also, QuickTime player is one of the worst places to judge the quality of your edited piece. It will make colors look wonky, often washed out (which I sense is what you're calling overexposed), and will look pixelated in places where it really isn't. The choppyness may be resolved by ensuring that "All Frames" is selected under the "View" menu.

One final question, because I'm having trouble finding threads about 4:3 footage (you can't search "4:3")- I realize older 4:3 TVs still have the "safezone". Obviously, on the computer, there is no safezone. Is there anyway I can export to DVD or quicktime for the internet to match the EXACT same dimensions you see on a tv? (for instance, you do not see the safezone) I realize I could crop, but wouldn't that mean lack of quality?

The broadcast safe zone is not consistent from TV to TV. And you wouldn't want to crop your image anyway. Do that, and it will just be stretched out to fill the frame when played on TV, which means you lose more information along with resolution. You have in FCP a "View Titlesafe" option that will place two blue squares over the image. The outer box is action safe, and the inner box is title safe (for titles/graphics). That will keep you good on TV sets, but will still allow the full image to appear on the Internet.

 

[bigbossbmb]

you can thank the DV compression for the color issue (and it's called chroma blocking). just apply a 4:1:1 chroma smoothing filter to the footage and it'll ease those artifacts.

 

[jpastuch]

Well, the thing is the "choppiness" that happens ALSO happens when I export as a high quality .mov AND DVD on my computer. See, I thought it was just quicktime and youtube, but even on DVD, when played in the computer, it's very choppy. On TVs, the DVD is fine.

Also, on my hi-def laptop monitor, the footage still looks good (even if it doesn't play smooth)- on another computer's hi-def monitor, it looked AWFUL.


And my problem with the 4:3- yes, I go by the blue frames and understand them. But what if I'm doing very precise compositions? Those compositions are destroyed on the computer when the "full frame" is revealed, because I shoot using the EVF, which apparently underscans.

So, instead of cropping, could I just mask those sides? And for projections at film festivals, use guidelines? Does this make any sense? Or should I just shoot using the LCD (which I think overscans on the DVX100) and then bite it on 4:3 TVs? I really wish I could just make ONE version of my film but I guess that's not possible.