Choppy video in FCP and upon export to QT

tbanucci

tbanucci

Well-known member
I have been working with DV for years and recently upgraded to the Panasonic HMC150 (AVCHD). Whenever I worked with DV in FCP, there were little stutters in the video when playing a panning shot at normal speed, and I always assumed this was just a limitation of working with DV. Once I exported this footage to DVD or DV Tape, everything was smooth. The problem persisted whenever I would make a web video (either with Flash or MP4).

You can see some samples here of what I mean:
http://lastcuthomes.com/videos/3242_Meadowlands_Lane/

and

http://lastcuthomes.com/videos/1030_Hamilton_Ave/

Now that I have my AVCHD cam, the same problem remains. Keep in mind that, I, as a camera operator am not doing these stutters and don't have Parkinsons! All of these videos appear just fine on DVD or on tape. The issue is with FCP and it's exporting.

The current method of exporting I have now is making the final video into a full QuickTime file from FCP. Then I will either encode with On2's Flix Pro or with QuickTime Pro into an mp4 file.

Has anyone been able to solve this issue? Has anyone else had this issue?

Thanks!
Ted
 
Do you see the stutter on playback within your timeline?? I've seen stuff like this in web video but always assumed it was a result of poor flv encoding and low keyframe count.

For instance: http://www.mikaelgustafson.com/media/AThousandYearsMusicVideoStreaming.mov

Some of these opening dolly shots have stutter but that is a combination of shooting 24fps and poor compression quality. Try compressing using the h264 codec (even if it's within a mp4 wrapper) and making keyframes every 20 or less frames.
 
filmismymedium said:
Do you see the stutter on playback within your timeline?? I've seen stuff like this in web video but always assumed it was a result of poor flv encoding and low keyframe count.

For instance: http://www.mikaelgustafson.com/media/AThousandYearsMusicVideoStreaming.mov

Some of these opening dolly shots have stutter but that is a combination of shooting 24fps and poor compression quality. Try compressing using the h264 codec (even if it's within a mp4 wrapper) and making keyframes every 20 or less frames.
Click to expand...

What computer with what OS, QT, and FCP version numbers?

How much RAM?

What are you using as a dedicated internal scratch/media drive.

What sequence settings?

How are you converting the mts/avchd footage? HQ or standard pro res, or AIC or what?

What did you shoot in the 150? PH in 720 and 1080 at what frame rate?

Help us out.
 
Filmsismymedium- that is exactly what I am talking about, with your panning or moving shots. Problem is, I get the same exact effect when I am playing in my timeline. Those samples I linked to were encoded into H.264 MP4 files (they were played with an FLV wrapper), but it makes no difference since it happens in the timeline too.

David S- This has happened with every Mac I've owned since 2002, and I have had about 14 of them since that time (I own a small video production company). It does not just happen with AVCHD, it happens with DV too.

Currently, I own a MacBook Pro 15" with 2.33 GHz Intel, 2 GB RAM, OS 10.5.6, latest FCP 6 and QT with latest updates. Also own an Intel iMac 2nd Gen and G5 Tower is my oldest.

All Macs are using a FW 800 external drive, various brands as scratch/media drive. Sequence settings in DV are straight up NTSC 4:3, nothing special.

For the AVCHD stuff, I am converting to ProRes using FCP 6. But like I said, this is not an AVCHD issue, rather an FCP issue that has been around with SD for years, with the most basic kind of DV footage.

Again, this doesn't show up when converting to DVD or exporting to tape, so I have no idea what is going on. Is there an interlace setting upon digital export to web media?
 
Since it doesn't appear in DVD and tape playback, it seems to be a codec thing. The fact that you see it in FCP is strange. Other than frame rate a shutter speed influences, you should see consistent flow from the timeline. Try exporting the same realty video with "all" frames selected as keyframes, or in another codec just to narrow your answer down.
 
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