Poor quality from .MOD and .VOB

R

richmondfloyd

Active member
Hi,

Converted files using MPEG Streamer to DV - 720x576

Did a test burn to DVD after outputting from FCP through Compressor - fastest encode 90 minutes.

The quality is pretty poor - not disastrous, but poor. Is there a way of increasing the quality?

PS - MOD files were from a SDHC Memory stick, so I think these are the RAW files from my customers camera.
 
Well, you could use Compressor's DVD settings under "Best Quality" rather than "Fastest Encode." I never export from within FCP except to export a QuickTime Movie, self-contained, current project settings. Then, I'll use Compressor by itself to prepare the files for DVD.

That said, what camera (make nd model) are you using? The camera's resolution or the codec it uses may be limiting you, or it may be that you're using the DV codec to edit when you could be using something better.
 
correct but did you know you can convert even to uncompressed 10 bit 4:4:4 in Mpegstreamclip? then use compressor best quality dual encode ? because from VOB to DV you are compressing again....
 
Original footage: compressed - DVD encodes: heavily compressed - DVD rip: another recompression - Edit, render and encode: more compression

You have several sequential generational losses that significantly affect quality. No way around it.
 
correct: compressed footage recompressed = no way around it BUT: if you at least convert from VOB to uncompressed, are you not eliminating at least ONE compression in a chain of many? and could that not help? I would really like to know cause I often have this problem with my work where hidden cams are writing compressed codecs on memory cards and need to be broadcast.....
 
Hi,

All the footage is from my customer and is either from a DVD or a home camera - not sure what sort.

I first converted the files to high resolution best quality ProRes 422 (HQ) - didn't want (HQ) but that is how it came out. There is two options on the MPEG Streamer for ProRes and they both say the same. Anyhow, when I did this the footage look OK still, but awful when an motion occurs. Compressed to ProRes MPEG2 and also tested a conversion to DV to MPEG2. The DV looked miles better, but it was still poor quality.

I think my customer will just have to understand what I am working with.

Having said that I will do a test with the uncompressed conversion as mentioned by Timbook2 - thanks
 
Richmond,

Clearly, you are struggling here because you don't quite have a grasp of what your sources are, and a workflow for getting them into FCP properly. You likely are dealing with both SD and HD interlaced sources. You've got two different field orders going on (Upper first for the HD and lower for the SD), and it appears you are not all that familiar with Mpeg Streamclip either. I am not saying these things to bash you, but your comments are showing us that you're in a bit deep here. Is there anyone you could hand this off to with a bit more experience in how to handle these mixed sources? It's a somewhat tricky workflow and there are a lot of places to get things wrong.

If not, maybe you could get a sample of the different files to one of the experienced FCP folks here and let them tell you how to get this material into the editor properly.

And don't bother with uncompressed. It's not going to help you at all in this case. ProRes HQ is miles ahead of any quality you'd need for this.
 
OK. There is some good news and some bad...

Good news is that I have spend two hours throughly testing codec and different options so you don't have to ;)

The bad news is that no matter what the codec or the setting, the result is the same as DV. I am picky about quality, so my reckoning on bad, might be someone else's OK.
 
PerroneFord said:
Richmond,

Clearly, you are struggling here because you don't quite have a grasp of what your sources are, and a workflow for getting them into FCP properly. You likely are dealing with both SD and HD interlaced sources. You've got two different field orders going on (Upper first for the HD and lower for the SD), and it appears you are not all that familiar with Mpeg Streamclip either. I am not saying these things to bash you, but your comments are showing us that you're in a bit deep here. Is there anyone you could hand this off to with a bit more experience in how to handle these mixed sources? It's a somewhat tricky workflow and there are a lot of places to get things wrong.

If not, maybe you could get a sample of the different files to one of the experienced FCP folks here and let them tell you how to get this material into the editor properly.

And don't bother with uncompressed. It's not going to help you at all in this case. ProRes HQ is miles ahead of any quality you'd need for this.
Click to expand...

Thanks and yes you are right. I am way above my head.

However, it seems pulling everything off through Streamclip in DV is producing OK results and as it was all shot on a home camera, very shaky footage, the customer isn't expecting miracles. Luckily, I produced a very high end video using an EX1 for his company!

Re pulling both MOD and VOB off as DV - is there anything I need to be aware of? I did notice a setting in streamclip for Upperfield dominance. Should this be set to lower? But still compressed through DV as 720x576 Pal? Then I am setting Anamorphic in FCP

The footage doesn't look great on streamclip even before I convert the footage.

Now about to do 3 test runs...

60% of the footage seems to be set to Anamorphic when imported into FCP and the rest isn't.
80% of the footage has a lower (even) field dominance. So i set FCP to that.

DVD tests are with all the clips (or snippets) in the timeline:
1. With Anamorphic set to off and select 16:9 in Compressor
2. With Anamorphic set to off and select 4:3 in Compressor
3. With Anamorphic on
 
Last edited:
PerroneFord said:
Richmond,

Clearly, you are struggling here because you don't quite have a grasp of what your sources are, and a workflow for getting them into FCP properly. You likely are dealing with both SD and HD interlaced sources. You've got two different field orders going on (Upper first for the HD and lower for the SD), and it appears you are not all that familiar with Mpeg Streamclip either. I am not saying these things to bash you, but your comments are showing us that you're in a bit deep here. Is there anyone you could hand this off to with a bit more experience in how to handle these mixed sources? It's a somewhat tricky workflow and there are a lot of places to get things wrong.

If not, maybe you could get a sample of the different files to one of the experienced FCP folks here and let them tell you how to get this material into the editor properly.

And don't bother with uncompressed. It's not going to help you at all in this case. ProRes HQ is miles ahead of any quality you'd need for this.
Click to expand...

OK definitely need some help. When combined on the same timeline, all 3 versions I tried showed horrible stutter from movement!

I am at the end of my knowledge...
 
It takes a lot of courage to admit that openly, and I applaud you for it. If I was a FCP user, I'd offer to help you but I am on PC and using Avid. Fortunately, Avid handles all this stuff automatically so it "just works". But you definitely have to wrangle it on the FCP side. Hopefully, some of the more advanced FCP folks will help you out soon.
 
Let me try even though I wouldnt consider myself a pro on fcp ( and my reference to uncompressed was to say thats even possible in mpegstreamclip)
IMO you need to first convert your original footage which I assume is 4:3 to the same format and as Perrone rightly said prores hq is the one to pick.
To do this in MPEGstreamclip you pick "other formats" the next window pops up and should say quicktime movie, next to it is options, click a new window pops up where you click on settings -> compression type : here pick Apple-prores 4 2 2 hq. click ok which leads you back to the previous window where you need to check sound 48 KHz in case and say ok as well.
now youre back in the MPEG export window and have to choose which aspect ratio your material is. you can also deinterlace in case etc....then export.
you must do this with all files to convert them to the same format!
In FCP you need to make a new project and define the settings pro res 4.2.2 etc , drag your files into the bin and drag them into the timeline. in case the settings dont match FCP will ask to to take the clips settings and you say ok. thats a quick and dirty basic method I would use with MPEGstreamclip....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top