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Final exporting generates pixelated video
Hi all,
I’ve been using Final Cut pro 7 for several months now, and lately I started working with the Panasonic DMC GH1 camera. So far I haven’t had any problem with my workflow, which consists of:
1/ Logging and transfering the clips via FCP Log and Transfer, using Apple Pro Res 422 as an encoder
2/ Doing all my editing with Final Cut
3/ Exporting through compressor, usually with the codec H264 and in a .mov fileIn my latest project though, I encountered something very strange. Whenever I add any kind of attribute to a clip (filters, motion transformation…), once exported, the sequence would look very pixelated. So to get good quality movies for this project I basically can only put my clips one after the other, and change their beginning/end points. Full stop. As you can imagine, this is quite annoying.
Here is an example:
An image extracted from the video exported without any modification
The same image, but extracted from a video desaturated via FCPI compared my sequence settings with former projects that worked well, and I didn’t notice anything different. Obviously I’m missing something here but I’ve been struggling on my own, with Google and a more qualified friend of mine for several days without fixing the issue. The only trick I managed to find
Would anyone have any idea about what’s happening here? Any help will be really appreciated.
If I’m not accurate enough in whatever information I provided, please ask and I’ll try and provide whatever’s missing.
Thanks for reading,
Paul -
11 Replies
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You can change the sequence settings to get a better render. Just select your sequence, then type cmd+zero to open the settings on your sequence. In the video processing tab you’ll find these settings. Motion filtering can be set to be of better quality there, and a high precision YUV setting can be used too. Might try that.
But you can’t judge quality of anything in the Canvas. Should be using an external video monitor for that.
All your sequence settings are ProRes right?
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays
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To add to Jerry’s suggestions…
Don’t export to H.264 straight from FCP. Export a master program in the codec you edited, then compress your video in Compressor. The final output will look much better than inside of FCP.
_______________________________
Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
Hi guys,
Thanks for the quick answer. From your advices I can see that I am not very clear on my issue.
The video in the Canvas is of excellent quality in all cases. The pixelated issue appears on videos exported from FCP. I did:
– a direct export as a Quicktime movie of my sequence
– a “send to” “Compressor”All of which with various settings. Each time, whenever I edit my clips (motion attributes or filters) I have this pixelated effect. But it’s not during the rendering process itself (I might have use the word “render” to talk about the exporting before, sorry about that. I’m still learning).
Hope this makes it more clear.
Thanks and sorry for the difficulty.
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What settings are you using in Compressor and what does the end QTmovie need to be? A Web stream?
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays
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Jerry,
So far I’ve only tested the settings I normally use: H.264 for the codec, .mov for the format.
But yeah, the end product is aimed at web streaming.
Thank.
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I thought I had mentioned that but I didn’t: I’m recording videos in AVCHD at 1280×720 50p (European model of the camera).
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Hi guys,
Just to let you know I tried everything you advised without any success. Since I had to deliver my project on a short delay, I gave up trying to fix it properly and I used a work-around (output the sequence without any effect/filter/motion attribute, and do my final manipulations with QT7).
Thanks anyway for your help. The mystery remains full… Till next time I have some spare time to look into it.
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I have the exact same issue with certain projects. it may be a bug in FCP? I re-installed it once and then it worked but now it keeps re-apearing.
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I’m afraid I found the issue and fixed it but didn’t post here to share the answer. So here it is, better late than never…
Basically, I worked with a sequence of 360p resolution, but my final product needed to be in 240p (for a Flash video embedded in a website). So when I exported the sequence in 240p the image was downsized, and it lowered the quality of the titles (mainly) and the video a bit as well.
I created a sequence in 240p, put all my editing in there and exported it without downsizing, and it worked like a charm.
My 2 cents…
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Wow! I didn’t know anyone was still working in those resolutions.
Anyways… The lesson here is not to export and downsize from FCP. ALWAYS export a full resolution QuickTime and use either Compressor or Adode to compress your web videos.
Another way to stop pixelization while compressing your videos is to check in Compressor that you are set to progressive scan. For some reason, Compressor isn’t always defaulted to this in the progressive scan compression schemes.
_______________________________
Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com
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