importing from dvx100 to after effects - poor quality

N

noelswanson

New member
Having problems with pixelation and poor quality when I import footage into after effects. Here are the exact steps I am taking:

Filming on DVX100b at 30p
using firewire to transfer to computer through windows movie maker and saving as AVI
here is how it looks in Windows Media Player

alison_raw.jpg


open After Effects
Go to File -> import file
drag clip into composition window

As soon as I have done this, the clip is visible, but has lost quality - the hair and neckline, for example, have become pixelated.

At this point the composition settings were automatically detected as NTSC DV with pixel ratio of D1/DV NTSC (0.91)

I now add this to the render queue and render as lossless with Alpha (note that I have not done any editing)

I then view the outputted video -

alison_ae.jpg


Note the poor quality with pixelation compared to the original footage. Also the aspect ratio has changed. Whereas the original footage, when viewed in Window Media Player shows the correct aspect ratio, the new rendered footage is stretched width wise.

I also experimented with other composition settings, such as square pixels, whic fixes the aspect ratio problem, but not the quality and pixelation problem

So, what are we doing wrong? Why is quality being lost before I even do any editing?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Noel
 
Last edited:
Yes, set to full.

What I don't understand is why AE is altering the file - I import it from a lossless AVI, do nothing to it, export it as lossless - shouldn't it end up with the exact same quality that it started with?
 
That may be - but I need to find the answers so that I can produce some video that looks half decent. It is useless as it is now. Surely someone is using After Effects and getting quality output? If so, what are they doing that I am not doing?
 
Fixed it. The problem was that AE was interpreting the video as interlaced when it was, in fact, progressive.

To fix the I right-lick on the clip file name , choose Interpret Footage -> Main , and then, where it says Fields and Pulldown, set the Separate Fields to Off

Problem solved!
 
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