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DVCPRO HD Quicktime export *ADDS* VIDEO NOISE!!??
Ok, I’m stumped again! Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.6 on a PC with SP2. Exporting DVCPRO HD footage using the Avid codec and “same as source” settings with RGB or 601 with a Quicktime .mov adds video noise to the footage. I have to export a Quicktime .mov because I am doing color correction on a mac with Apple’s Color. I cannot export a Quicktime reference file because the hard drives cannot be moved to the mac, so I need to export quicktime files at the same quality as the original.
The DVCPRO HD footage looks like the original when played in the Avid, but the exported Quicktime file for some reason adds and/or heightens whatever video noise is already present in the image. I have played exact frames side by side (Quicktime export and Avid’s timeline viewer) and there is a definite increase in video noise).
I have tried exporting the file using the 601 setting (doesn’t work; makes things worse because adds setup and makes everything look washed out), exporting the file using custom settings (and trying to match the size of the original footage, but files still show the same extra video noise).
For those keeping track, I spent the past couple of days exporting this feature into Color and now I find out I have to start from scratch and razor everything again because of this problem. Now our deadline is even tighter…please help us if you can. Thanks!
P.S.: forgot to add that the footage has no effects, graphics, etc. (just a couple of dissolves that were already rendered before outputting to quicktime). Thanks.
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6 Replies
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Not sure why this is happening.
With your deadline looming, why don’t you consolidate your final sequence to an external drive, export a quicktime reference to that drive, then plug the drive into your Mac and use the reference files in Color. Test it with a short clip to make sure the qtime reference files maintain their links, but I think it will work.
Can COlor import an EDL and automatically cut your footage up? Check on this too–it would save you a lot of time if it could.
Otherwise, I’m not sure what’s going on. Remember this though–if you’re comparing the Quicktime to the image on your Source/Record monitors in Avid on your computer screen, the Avid is only showing 1 field. Have you looked at this footage on a broadcast monitor to ensure the noise is not actually there, and the quicktime is just displaying a full frame so you notice it? Just a thought.
Good luck.
Michael.
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Thank you for your help.
I have just heard that this might be also be a bug on this version of the software (5.6) but cannot find independent confirmation…has anybody heard this? If so, which version after 5.6 has addressed this problem?
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Dear Michael:
Forgot to add that your suggestion is excellent, except for the following unrelated problem we’re having with our external hard drives (7200 firewire 400): no matter what we do, every time we try to create a quicktime reference file we get a “write delayed failed” error and one of our hard drives with the footage is no longer “seen” by the system.
We have tried everything (updating windows, defragmenting all drives, updating the bios, removing all extraneous programs, etc.) and have narrowed down the problem to quicktime, which for some reason makes one of our daisy chained hard drives disappear when we try to create a quicktime reference file (yes, we try hooking up the drives separately and in different sequences, no dice). This is why we’re forced to create a quicktime for export.
Again, thanks for your thoughtful answer.
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FWIW, after upgrading to 5.8 and reexporting the problem went away. It was a bug in the Quicktime export from 5.6. Thanks, everyone!
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Thanks for the update. It’s good to know how you fixed the problem in case someone else runs into the same issue.
Michael.
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I never saw this problem with 5.6, but I typically uncheck the ‘use Avid codec’ box and send the QT ref to Sorenson for encoding.
Regards,
Joe Womble
Regards,
Joe Womble
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