Quality difference between raw MXF and Quicktime?

A

adam89

New member
Hi,

I'm editing a music video that was shot on an HVX against a green-screen. I imported the footage using Final Cut 6.0.2. The sequence settings match the clip—DVCPRO HD 720p60, 960x720, 23.98fps, with 960x720 pixel aspect ratio.

The rough cut was made, and all the shots were split off to the After Effects designer using File -> Export -> Quicktime Movie, with "recompress all frames" unchecked, and "make movie self-contained" checked. Everything looks fine on my end, and Quicktime Player confirms all the settings are the same as the sequence and the original clips.

When I handed off the shots, the designer had trouble keying them cleanly. He opened up the raw MXF file in After Effects and those keyed perfectly. Do you guys have any idea what the discrepancy would be between the two files? And given that I can't edit the MXF files directly, is there a workaround/explanation for this?

Thanks so much!
 
This would be a barry question, is QuickTime DVCPROHD (that FCP confirms) bit for bit identical to the MXF from which it came,

But you could use and EDL and then use the replace asset tool in AE, it would be a much better idea to do your rough in prem, cause the workflow is seemless FCP and Prem arent that different
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Yes, it is.
You lose the metadata attached to the MXF files, but the audio and video quality of the footage is absolutely 100% identical.
Click to expand...

So if the footage is 100% identical and it's not a MXF->QT conversion issue, any idea what could be causing this? The one thing I thought of was that the render settings in FCP are set to "Render in 8-bit YUV" and maximum white is set to "white", but not sure if this would change anything. Would RGB or high-precision YUV have more accurate colors? Is the maximum white an issue? (ie can the HVX shoot/does DVCPRO support super white?)

Thanks so much guys for helping me figure this out!
 
adam89 said:
can the HVX shoot/does DVCPRO support super white?
Click to expand...
Not THAT is a Barry question.
:)


If you have the ability, I would be interested to know if the he has the same issue with the original QT files that FCP created (as opposed to the QT files you exported).
Sending him a short clip (shortest clip you have without re-exporting) would help narrow down the issue.

the designer had trouble keying them cleanly.
Click to expand...
Exactly what kind of trouble was he having?
Do you have a sample frame or something we could look at?
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Not THAT is a Barry question.
:)


If you have the ability, I would be interested to know if the he has the same issue with the original QT files that FCP created (as opposed to the QT files you exported).
Sending him a short clip (shortest clip you have without re-exporting) would help narrow down the issue.


Exactly what kind of trouble was he having?
Do you have a sample frame or something we could look at?
Click to expand...

I'll work on those and post back as soon as I know. Thanks!
 
hvx_screengrab.jpg

Here's the screengrab comparing the two. As labeled, the top is the same frame from the Raw MXF file opened in After Effects, and the bottom is from the Quicktime exported from Final Cut. I have a sample of the keying on the right as well. This was made in After Effects, btw.

Thanks!
 
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