Difference in look on FCP export

[texvanwinkle]

This has to be something basic, but I haven't run into it before and despite my best Googling, I'm not finding anything specifically helpful to what I'm running into, so please excuse if it's been covered to death.

Here's the deal: I've a promo I shot for my kids' school in 480/30p. I captured it straight from the camera, matched sequence to settings, and upon finishing it, have exported it as a reference file (to save space for the moment) using current settings.

The resulting Quicktime file I get, though, is a bit larger in the aspect ratio--it actually looks a little stretched in the horizontal--than what I see in the FCP6 canvas, and consequently grainier. It's also a *lot* duller and flatter. It doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't look good.

What gives? It's as basic and straightforward an import/export as you can get.

Thanks in advance.

Clint

 

[Cools]

In Quicktime, go to Preferences and make sure to enable to "Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility". That should handle the color and gamma difference.

The aspect ratio difference is because NTSC doesn't use square pixels so when it's displayed on a computer it'll look stretched. Once it's displayed on a TV, it'll appear proper. FCP handles this for you so you see the proper 4:3 TV ratio.

If the video is destined for TV, then the only way to make sure that you have the right color and brightness settings is to check it on an actual TV. Remember, your monitor isn't a TV so it can't be used to accurately judge content, they are just different technologies.

If you are going for web, then you need to convert it to something like H.264 and check that it looks ok then, and on different computers. Then go back and compensate accordingly (you can also make minor changes during encoding if you are using Compressor).

 

[texvanwinkle]

Perfect. That's exactly what I needed. Thanks much. I knew about the color difference between my Dell monitor and TV, but I'd forgotten about the square pixels issue.

I have to learn to use Compressor.