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Quick Time movies always look different.
I am confused with why my Quick Time Movies always look different than my Canvas window after I make them. I thought if I use “Current Settings” that I would get an exact copy of what is in my sequence.
I have attached two stills from a Christmas show I filmed. Unfortunately, she looks a little more plump in the quicktime movie (not good). However, when I bring the quicktime movie back into FCP it looks exactly the same as before. The still is taken from my Canvas window, and from my quicktime player.
A summary:
1) I shot this video using DV (4:3 aspect ratio/720X480)
2) The clip shows up in my browser as 720 X 480 with a Pixel Aspect Ratio of NTSC-CCIR601 – These are the exact same settings as my sequence.
3) The video clip looks perfectly clear and crisp in both my viewer and canvas windows.
4) I Export – “Quick time movie” (not using quick time conversion) and I select “Current Settings”
5) The movie I create has dimensions of 720 X 480, yet when I open it in Quicktime it looks wider and sorta pixelated. (See image number 2).
6) I have tried playing with every preference within quicktime, yet it still appears wider and slightly blurry.
7) When I bring it back into FCP it appears clearer and not distorted.I am hoping this is a slight oversight on my part.
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11 Replies
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[Gary Goldblum] “I have attached two stills from a Christmas show I filmed.”
No, you didn’t attach them…[Gary Goldblum] “6) I have tried playing with every preference within quicktime, yet it still appears wider and slightly blurry. “
Exporting a QT Movie at current settings does create an exact duplicate of your timeline, period, end of story. The issue you’re encountering is with QT player, which has a funky way of dealing with DV pixels, which the next paragraph addresses..
In the player go to Window>>Show Movie Properties>>Presentation and check the box that says Conform aperture to, then change the setting in the box to the setting that that makes your DV display properly (I can’t remember which of the four settings that is because I stopped using DV altogether.
Also, QT player seldom displays video in realtime and it has numerous other imperfections, so it’s not the best way to judge video quality.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Thanks David,
I was nearly going insane. I have one more question.
If exporting a quick time movie with current settings doesn’t make an exact copy what is the best method/settings to export a movie? Usually I take my exported movie and bring it into either Compressor (to make a DVD or upload to Youtube) or into Adobe Media encoder (to make a flash movie).
I was taught (perhaps incorrectly) that by saving it as a Quictime movie with current settings, that I would get the best possible movie.
Regarding the images, I think it is something with Creative Cow website as they were viewable when I previewed the post, but disappeared when I posted it…
Thanks again for your time!
Gary
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let’s see if this works…
Thanks!
Gary
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[Gary Goldblum] “If exporting a quick time movie with current settings doesn’t make an exact copy what is the best method/settings to export a movie?”
You misread my post, I said:
“Exporting a QT Movie at current settings does create an exact duplicate of your timeline, period, end of story. The issue you’re encountering is with QT player…”
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[Gary Goldblum] “let’s see if this works… “
Yes, it does…
The solution is what I told you to do in the QT player.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Under the visual settings of the movie properties you can also check the box called high quality which makes a dramatic improvement of the look. In fact there is a plug-in HiQual which allows you to do a batch of QT movies at one time. Here is the link:
https://www.syntheticaperture.com/products/hiq/index.htmlNeal Broffman
One Production Place, Atlanta, GA
“Voices of Freedom”, Special Jury winner for Fall 2008 CINE Awards produced for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta as part of a major exhibition of vintage Civil Rights Movement photographs, “Road To Freedom”. Currently on display at The Field Musuem in Chicago followed by The Skirball Cultural Center in LA in the fall and The Bronx Museum, spring 2010. -
Sorry for the misread….
I also noticed that these quick time movies appear distorted (wider/pixelated) in Compressor and Adobe Media Encoder. Frankly I don’t care if they look funny in Quicktime, I just want to export things properly as either a DVD, Youtube movie, or .flv file.
Do I need to save them after I apply the conform aperture setting?
Sorry if this questions seems dumb.
Gary
Thanks!
Gary
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[Gary Goldblum] “I also noticed that these quick time movies appear distorted (wider/pixelated) in Compressor and Adobe Media Encoder.”
Well, that’s new information and a different matter.
Do me a favor, go to sequence settings and post a screen grab of what there please.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Thanks!
Gary
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Gary,
I remember encountering this issue and for the life of me I can’t remember the elegant solution. The inelegant solution is to change the pixel dimensions of the QT you output from within QT Player as follows:
1) Go to Window>>Show Movie properties
2) Left Click on the line Video Track and in the Visual Settings tab force the Scaled Size to 640 x480.
3) Then do File>>Save
Not elegant, but it does work. Perhaps when Rafael wakes up over in Asia he’ll remember the more elegant solution.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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