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Which Sequence Settings?
Hey everyone, FCP noob here trying to get a big video project off the ground. I’ve been trying and trying, reading and reading and just CANT seem to get my sequence settings right, so maybe you can help me out!
Here’s the lowdown:
1). Most of my footage is in NTSC 3:2, converted in Streamclip with ProRes 422
2). Some of my footage is also however in HDTV720p, converted in Streamclip with ProRes 422 HD
3). I want the look of the footage to be anamorphic, so I plan on checking all of the ‘anamorphic’ boxes in the NTSC footage that I import.
4). QUALITY is of the upmost importance. I don’t want to sacrifice it at all.My original FCP Sequence settings were:
Obviously, the NTSC frame size I was using was problematic when importing 720p footage (huge quality loss), so I asked around and switched my sequence settings to this:
(note the compressor switch to ProRes422 HD, this was to better match the ProRes422 codec i used when converting the 720p footage for FCP). I also switched the pixel aspect ratio.
Now, this looks okay (MUCH better than my first attempt), but for some reason I’m still seeing a SLIGHT loss in quality from what I see in the viewer, and what actually plays back from the timeline in the Canvas (it’s just slightly blurrier, and the colors are less crisp).What sequence settings can I try out to MAXIMIZE the quality of my HD footage, while at the same time still being able to use my NTSC footage without rendering each clip? I’ve tried many different combinations to no avail. If anybody has any helpful advice, links or pictures, I would appreciate it more than you know!!!!
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4 Replies
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You are trying something that not reasonable.
First thing you need to tell us is what is the end deliverable? DVD? BluRay? HD/SD broadcast?
If your main footage is 3:2 (which is Broadcast 4:3) you don’t have anamorphic footage, to go to anamorphic you have to scale the footage up about 33%, not an easy thing to do and keep quality. Then using a HD sequence is even worse. Converting 4:3 to 16:9 without scaling and then cropping top and bottom will just distort the image. Fat people and oblong circles.
[Kyle Cox] “4). QUALITY is of the upmost importance. I don’t want to sacrifice it at all.”
If that is true you need to spend some $, You need hardware conversion to even have a chance at quality. Even then you better have great source footage that is tack on sharp focus and exposure.Once you decide what your finished product needs to be you need to choice the sequence setting that makes sense. then all the footage needs to be converted to that if you do not want to render all the time.
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[Kyle Cox] “What sequence settings can I try out to MAXIMIZE the quality of my HD footage, while at the same time still being able to use my NTSC footage without rendering each clip? I”
Not possible. When you mix footage you must choose sequence settings for one format, meaning that whatever else you add will require rendering.
Listen to Michael…figure out what you will be delivering and base your settings on that.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thank you very much for the helpful advice!
It looks like I need a lot of brushing up with this software…I’ve bought a Lynda.com subscription and I plan to be on it religiously.
I understand your concern about using a 16:9 ratio with my 3:2 NTSC footage, but when I click the ‘anamorphic’ box in FCP, it actually turns out looking pretty good, and I’m okay with the slight stretching (it’s very slight).
Also, I finally found a sequence setting that seems to work great with both my NTSC and HD footage:
(Note that I changed the pixel aspect ratio to ‘square’. I dont even know what this means, but it works the best out of everything so far. The HD quality is not sacrificed at all with this selection).As far as my end deliverable goes, I haven’t even thought of that and I’m glad you brought it up. I guess I would prefer Blueray quality. This is purely a personal, non-profit project (moreso to use as a resume and to share online)…so I would like the output quality to be as high as is reasonable. I’ve really only created projects in Windows Movie Maker and Imovie so far, so this grand choice of options FCP gives me is quite overwhelming. Judging from my sequence settings that I’ve included in this post, what output deliverable would you recommend?
Again, your help is greatly apprecated. I realize how ignorant I must sound not knowing even the basic fundamentals of this program, but I really am trying to get a grasp on it all! 🙂 -
Once again your goals are too wide. You cannot you clips in a demo reel that are the wrong pixel aspect ratio. If this is just for you, friends and family then your are fine with going with what you like but I would never use that to show off work for potential clients.
If you like that sequence then you just to to use Compressor to convert all your DV footage to that or less you will be rendering at every step.
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