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DVCPro transcode issues. Pixel aspect, jaggies, weird sizes
So I have 720P DVCPRO HD footage mixed into a Prores 422 1920×1080 sequence. The 720 footage is green screen (don’t ask why it’s shot on 720, what’s done is done), and I keep seeing ugly pixelstuff when I transcode the footage to an output. I’m trying to deliver it for Vis FX in JPEG contained in a MOV, per request from vis fx.
When I watch the footage in FCP, and even zooming in on the canvas and scrutinizing the edges, it’s smooth and softened. But the exported vids don’t have this smoothness, it’s like there’s an added pixelation. I also noticed that even by pressing the “export using quicktime conversion” button, you can SEE the image in canvas change from smooth to jaggy. I also noticed that in quicktime info, I get some weird numbers. 1799×1012? 1888×1062? Why is it damned impossible to convert this thing to a solid 1920×1080 square-pixel .mov?
Any ideas how to get a smooth-looking transcode? has anyone else run into this business?
Thanks for any help!
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3 Replies
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Make sure that the sequence codec is Prores and check “Render all YUV in High Precision”
rafael -
Footage matches the sequence in this regard: Field dominance – none, at 23.98 fps.
Here’s something pretty odd though. Even though the footage is shot at 24p, the codec is listed as “DVCPro HD 720P60”. Does the 60 not refer to the framerate here? There are a couple of slow-motion shots, but mostly it’s all 24fps. Camera was an HVX200.
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Just confirmed with director it was shot in 24PN, so pulldown shouldn’t be an issue.
It’s not the interlaced “venetian blinds” effect I’m seeing, but just extra pixellation on the edges of the actor over greenscreen. It seems the detail on most of him is fine, it’s just the high-con edges that pixellate. In FCP’s canvas these edges look smoothed-out.
I’ve gotten the go-ahead from the director to just send out the footage as is, but I’d rather turn in the best possible quality to vis fx for the chroma key. Edges are everything in composite country. I’ve done a ton of tests but the only time I get a smooth-looking export is when I keep the 720 resolution and the DVCPro codec. it doesn’t want to upscale or transcode in any healthy way.
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