Best quality on export? HVX200 & FCP

C

craigom

Member
I am a newbie to the HVX200 & FCP and i want to get the highest quality output i can. Our current workflow is as follows:

We have been shooting in 720/25P, transfer P2 contents onto hard drive and import into FCP (6.0.5) using log and transfer (Mac Pro 8 core). In FCP our Capture preset is DVCPRO HD 720p/25 and the Sequence preset is also DVCPRO HD 720p/25.

We typically Export the sequence using QuickTime Conversion:
Compression Type: H.264
Quality: High
Framerate: Current
Key Frames: Automatic
Encoding mode: multipass
Size: 1280x720 HD

I am not happy with the compressed end result. I know there must be better ways to achieve a higher quality image. Can anyone recommend settings/workflow improvements? Seems to me that we are compressing our image twice. When we transfer the P2 MXF files, they are converted into compressed MOV for editing. And then when exporting, FCP is using the mov files in the sequence and its again compressed. Am i missing something here? Shouldn't FCP be able to reference the original uncompressed MXF files when making the export?

Should we be using ProRes and if so, how? Also there seems to be an issue of dimensions of HD files. What dimensions should we be exporting to in order to get true HD?

Stupid questions i know but its all a learning curve for me right now. Any help appreciated.

CM
 
AFAIK when you use Log and Transfer in FCP with P2 DVCPROHD footage, you're not compressing it again, just taking it out of the mxf container and putting it in a quicktime one. The codec and footage stays intact.

What I can suggest is stop using the quicktime conversion and start using Compressor.
 
That's right--there is no recompression (DVCPro HD footage is compressed when it recorded in the camera) when imported into FCP. The actual video files in FCP should be identical to the video in the mxf file. I agree with Voytech that you should export using Compressor and do some tests to see what settings work best with your footage.

Also, what are you doing with your exported files? Unless you have some reason to export to H264, you might get better results exporting to DVCPro HD, which is the codec you started with. I'm not sure what you mean when you talk about getting true HD on export. Transcoding on export is never going to increase the image quality of your footage.

Kevin
 
hi : you experts in compression please help me. I work with mxf files in timeline edius5 and them what compression do you sugest? mpg2 for making dvd ? mpg2 for youtube?
thanks from argentina.
 
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