Something horribly wrong with FCP and the color red

Canvas is low resolution proxy. No way around it unless you use Matrox MXO or something similar to go out to HD monitor.

How does it look exported to QT with high quality enabled?
 
This problem is really distracting for me, here's how I fix it:
(In FCP6 from DV25 footage)

1. Edit entire sequence normally, ignoring the blockiness.

2. Make a new ProRes422 project and drop the entire finished DV sequence into it.

3. Apply a 4:1:1 color smoothing filter to the entire sequence nested in the ProRes sequence.

4. Render to Quicktime

5. Continue Rendering

6. Finished QT movie looking like it should.


Not sure about the specifics, but it fixes the problem for me-
 
Has anyone solved the red issue in FCP, i shot a scene and the guy in it has a red suit on looks like the suit is made out of bricks, red squares all over on the edges of the suit it is really bad
 
I just now found this thread after a long hiatus from these boards. We shot an interview a while back with a DVX in 24pn. When we play it out of S-video onto an NTSC monitor and also into an HD 720p projector and it looked great, but once captured via firewire and played either through QT or FCP into the same monitor and projector there is red jaggies running down the guys nose. I immediately ordered an MXO thinking that Cinema Desktop Preview was giving me this red plague but the MXO only made them more pronounced if anything. I can't remember for sure if I tried the chroma smoother. I've done other test's with other interviews to see if there is a difference between playing out of the camera and playing from QT or FCP on same monitor and didn't notice any difference in color space. Only this interview (We didn't use a fill light regrettably) I posted somewhere about this way back and didn't get much response. I'm trying the chroma smoother as we don't seem to have solved the mystery yet. I guess if i had the time and money I could capture onto a PC and export to QT for Mac import and see if the red shows up in that chain but it's too late. Gotta a deadline.
 
Yea, reds on my other system, Mac, has jaggy reds. I now just edit on my GrassValley Edius system, no problem with reds. Probably because of all my DV footage is always edited in 4:2:2 color space on the timeline in Edius. You don't have to toggle anything, it just does it. In fact all of my colors are a little cleaner.
I'm also digging the real time of everything. Even my DV50 and DVproHD seems a little cleaner in the color area. I don't know, I think my MAC isn't worth it, when for half the price I can get a better picture on my Edius system.

JohnnyD
 
ullanta said:
There are a number of issues to disambiguate here.

As to the blocky reds, I have them in DVX and HVX footage - but it is a BENEFIT, not a problem.

In brief: The "Apple" or "FCP" way of handling DV (and it seems DVCPRO HD) is to maintain all color information as 4:1:1 or 4:2:2 exactly as in the data stream. Most other approaches "smooth" the color when doing any processing. This smoothing makes the image look immediately better, but also causes far more degradation over multiple encoding/decoding/processing stages.

In FCP, to get highest quality when using DV or DVCPro HD, do all your editing and intermediate stages without smoothing, then add the appropriate 4:1:1 or 4:2:2 color-smoothing filter before the final output stage. This will take away the blocky red problems while maintaining best image quality.

The compressed web footage, etc ... probably other issues at play. Strong reds and NTSC have different issues as well.
Click to expand...

THIS WORKS! THIS WORKS! I can't say it loud enough. I never thought I would see an end to this problem.


I have noticed blocks ANY time colors get really saturated. A great example is when someone stands under high powered stage lights with gels. Or, just simply boost your saturation, and there ya go.

I've noticed this problem even back on my PC. But only when I boosted colors as far as I could. Red would always be a culprit. On my mac, it can be any color just about.

You people that say you don't experience this.... try boosting your saturation and see if you get blocks. That's what we are talking about. Honestly, I've never NOT seen this problem. I think a lot of people are used to it. Also, I used to not see it. Then one day I saw it. From then on I always saw it. You people that upgrade and then 'suddenly see it'... well, it's always been there. You just now noticed it because you upgraded and were looking at it differently, for a change.

Anyway, if you have NOT tried the fix above, TRY IT! I still can't believe I found this. MANY THANKS!!
 
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