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basic compression, de-interlacing
i’m about to start editing a project and want to be sure i’m going about it all the right way, as i’ve become confused by the multiple possibilities. any thoughts would be very appreciated!
i’d like to ultimately make a dvd of the finished edit, for a digital projector presentation on a large theater screen, as well as television and web viewings.
the footage was shot on 35mm at both 30fps/MOS and 24fps/sync sound. it was transferred at telecine to digi-beta, from which an uncompressed quicktime file was created – the file is 36:43 minutes, 720×486 and 43.63 gigs large. editing on fcp 4.5 with a power book g4 1.66 w/ 2 gigs of ram.
when i watch the quicktime, the 30fps footage looks fantastic. the 24fps looks the same, _except_ any motion (of which there is a lot) which creates a very bad stuttering effect. also, importing the file into final cut is difficult to watch in the viewer, and (to a lesser extent) difficult to watch on the timeline – it becomes jerky and freezes up. i’m thinking some sort of compression will be needed.
1) what’s the first step? compress the files and edit, then de-interlacing, or, de-interlace and then compress and edit? does it matter?
2) for what i want to do with the finished product, what makes the most sense as far as compression? dv/dvcpro – ntsc? will this compression be noticable on a dvd playing on tv?
3) regarding de-interlacing, i’ve messed around with it, and it seems to improve (though not entirely remove the stuttering effect from) the 24fps work… also, it seems to create a more pixelated quicktime image. is de-interlacing on fcp4.5 the best way to do it (or in the comrpessor?) and is it normal for the quality to be sacrificed? are there other ways to go about improving the stuttering images without sacrificing the quality in other ways?
thanks a lot for any ideas!!
-mike
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5 Replies
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Deinterlacing won’t fix the stutter you see, shooting 24fps caused that most likely. Deinterlacing will simply throw half of the resolution away, and retain the stutter.
Post more about your system. Mac? OS? version of FCP and QuickTime? What are you using as a scratch disk? A disk array? Also post what codec shows up when you select the QT movie, and type cmd+9 to get it’s properites.
Jerry
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interesting, now we’re getting somewhere… thank you for opening my eyes to the de-interlacing problem. i hope some of this info about my system will help give a clearer picture:
mac OS X 10.3.9
1.67 GHz PowerPC G4
2 GB DDR SDRAMfinal cut pro HD 4.5
quicktime ver. 7.1.2, player version 7.0.1
the scratch disk is a 200 gig Lacie hard drive… i hate to say it, but, although i have a vague sense of what a disk array is, i couldn
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AH that tells me a lot!
The laCie isn’t fast enough for uncompressed video… you need an array. There are firewire arrays out there. I like the G-Raids for this. https://www.g-technology.com Look at the FW G-raids there. They are twice as fast as what a single disk FW drive… which is probably what you are using. It’s not a Big disk, right? ie. it’s about the size of a slightly oversized paper back book… if so it’s not fast enough, and you’ll find the playback better on a faster array.
The other thing I see is 10.3.9 and QT 7… they don’t get along very well. FCP HD? then QT 6.5.2… FCP 5.x? then Tiger and QT 7…
Jerry
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hey thanks for the suggestion about g-raid – sounds like that might help with the choppiness.
_but_, i still have the issue of the horizontal lines of distortion in the original uncompressed quicktime from the telecine (this is an issue on or off my compueter (ie. if i make a dvd of the file the lines are even more pronounced, so its not a speed issue with my hard drive)). the 30fps footage looks fine but the 24 (in the same file) is all distorted on any movement… i guess the most pressing issue is why is this happening – did the post-house where i got the telecine do something wrong in the transfer to digibeta or making the quicktime?
getting a transfer at 24fps seems like an incredibly normal procedure in the film world… should i take this issue back to the post house or am i missing something very obvious here?
-mike
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You’re not missing something… How did they capture the footage? In FCP? and what codec did they use?
I’d show this to the post house BTW…
Jerry
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