weird playback footage in Final cut express

M

matthew_renee

New member
So this may be a simple question, or it may not. I've been capturing some of the footage I've shot into Final Cut Express, and all of the low light (mostly indoor) footage has a very blocky effect to it. For instance, around curves, all of the pixels are very visible, so it looks like an old video game where the curves are made up of a bunch of pixelly squares. In normally lit, or outdoor footage, this doesn't happen.

When I watch the footage through my DVX (or any other camcorder for that matter) it looks perfectly fine. When I export the footage to quicktime movie, or any other format, however, it retains that pixelation. If I try to use this file in a DVD burning program, the pixellation stays. If I record the footage back onto a tape, though, the pixellation goes away.

I've read people talking about "recording in a 24p timeline," but I don't know if this is done automatically by final cut, or if I have to set it.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Matt
 
yes, haha one time poor video playback like this freaked me out and i thought i shot everything out of focus. like scott said, just change the playback quality to high. (i think the playback quality is like a little tab on the top left corner of the timeline itself under the title RT, but i might be wrong)
 
You shoudl see the same quality on hte computer as on your camera.
FCE doesn't capture a 24fps (24pa with advanced removal or 24p with reverse telecine)
Check the quality settings for the capture and the size. If anything is off on your capture settings the quality will drop.
 
Are you looking at this "pixelated" footage from FCE on an NTSC monitor.
This is where it counts. Any pixelation via you computer screen is irrelevant if it's not there on an NTSC monitor.
 
If your capture frame rate does not match your timeline, you can get footage that is highly pixelated. In the case that I have seen, the image was not even discernible -- looked like a weird Photoshop-mosaic-kinda effect. FCP (can't speak for FCE) does not automatically set your timeline according to your capture rate, although FC will have certain default settings.

Try changing your timeline frame rate and report back.
 
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