Is this normal? (Youtube fullscreen quality)

redshft

Member
I've recently started a job where I'm using a HMC150, a Canon 7D, and some ContourHD cameras. After completing a project and posting up on Youtube, we were a bit disappointed with the quality of a couple of clips...particularly in full screen. The clips in question were shot on the HMC150 at 720/60P and transferred into FCP in Prores codec.

The first clip seemed very pixelated and lo-res. It had a tilt-shift effect applied to it along with a gradient overlay. Although, after a test of removing the filter and overlay, exporting in H.264 via Compressor, and uploading to Youtube, the clip is still very poor quality. Other clips from the HMC look fine while just these 2 or 3 don't. Is this just an issue with the camera's video being compressed to Youtube?

The two other clips we noticed were both under the same location with same lighting. Very dark with with an Arrilite 1000 and 650 lighting up the cars on a turn table. The issue with these are again, very pixelated lines along the body of the cars, as well as a jerky movement with one of the cars as it spins on the turn table.

I've used a Sony HVR-Z1U and Canon 7D in the past and have never had this issue. It's really got me baffled and a frustrated right now as this was my first project.

These issues are most noticeable under full screen and not so much with the regular size. I understand that full screen will make the compression woes stand out a bit more, but this is a bit much. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Many encoders have difficulty dealing with areas of shadow, highlights and motion. In my own experience I've had to brighten footage so the encoder has more pixel data to encode. A good exampe of this are areas of black which often get very pixelated.

As for playing fullscreen! If you have encoded footage that has large areas of pixelation this is going to be exaggerated when played full screen. As you'll know screens come in a variety of sizes and the player has to make up the extra pixels to fill your screen.

I have noticed a huge difference with encoders... as a test I uploaded the same HD mp4 footage to YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo. The result! Youtube came last in terms of quality (for this test).

Tip: Google or download a HD clip from youtube and look at the media info e.g. Bitrate, framesize. I can't rember them of the top of my head. Then create an export or render template with the same settings and convert or render your footage. This will hopefully give you an idea of what areas you need to fix.

Hope this help a little ;)
 
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I've recently started a job where I'm using a HMC150, a Canon 7D, and some ContourHD cameras. After completing a project and posting up on Youtube, we were a bit disappointed with the quality of a couple of clips...particularly in full screen. The clips in question were shot on the HMC150 at 720/60P and transferred into FCP in Prores codec.

The first clip seemed very pixelated and lo-res. It had a tilt-shift effect applied to it along with a gradient overlay. Although, after a test of removing the filter and overlay, exporting in H.264 via Compressor, and uploading to Youtube, the clip is still very poor quality. Other clips from the HMC look fine while just these 2 or 3 don't. Is this just an issue with the camera's video being compressed to Youtube?

The two other clips we noticed were both under the same location with same lighting. Very dark with with an Arrilite 1000 and 650 lighting up the cars on a turn table. The issue with these are again, very pixelated lines along the body of the cars, as well as a jerky movement with one of the cars as it spins on the turn table.

I've used a Sony HVR-Z1U and Canon 7D in the past and have never had this issue. It's really got me baffled and a frustrated right now as this was my first project.

These issues are most noticeable under full screen and not so much with the regular size. I understand that full screen will make the compression woes stand out a bit more, but this is a bit much. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


Post links to your clips and I can give you my analysis.
 
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