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Macroblocking
I shot some footage outside on the Dvx100 the other day and got some serious Macroblocking. I couldn’t tell at the time, but it’s quite noticable in some takes when I bring it into FCP. I was thinking of re-shooting the shots, but it’s in a forest at dusk, and it has to be there, so with reshoots I wouldn’t know how to really avoid the problem without just not shooting it.
Is there any plugin within FCP to fix this, or something in another program to smooth it over?
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5 Replies
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This could be dirty heads. Can you post a frame?
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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Look closely at the hair, left side of the jacket and the trees.
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that is not dirty heads
That looks like typical DV interlacing especially in such a high contrast scene.
have you tested shooting the camera in 24pA and removing the pulldown.
Also how are you looking at the video in FCP, the canvas is not showing you the real deal, you have to be able to view the footage on an external monitor to evaluate it.
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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That WAS 24pA with pulldown removal. From what I understand, the big contrast in lighting in combination with the coat pattern, hair and moving forest just basically caused the DVX compression to fail. It’s not quite as bad on other takes, and I didn’t notice it on any of the monitors I used to shoot with (although I only have Varizoom monitor for framing, unfortunately), and unfortunately pretty much every angle would have had forest and contrast lighting, so…
Now, the only external monitor I have access to is a broadcast quality ntsc video monitor, so I can double check how it will look on a standard monitor/TV, but I’m mostly worried about the artifacts being INSANELY noticable on a hi-def monitor. I realize DVX is just SD, but obviously there’s a big difference between it looking soft and looking blocky and incomprehensible.
How are the “Deblocking” plugins I’ve been reading about? I’ve seen worse macroblocking in footage than this, and I’ve also read Neat Video is real good with this kind of thing, but that you need to be experienced with it and have a good monitor.
OH- and one other thing- I’m turning all the footage to black and white, hence I shot FOR black and white…that MIGHT make some of it less noticable, but I assume I should fix the footage first, then apply any color effects. Not sure though.
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I’m not seeing all that big of a problem on the sample, I see the stair-stepping in the hair on the right side, a little in the jacket and trees, but this is expected with DV footage under these conditions. Even out the lighting (overcast day) may help. Going to HD is going to exaggerate everything that is wrong with the image, it is being enlarged over 200%.
But you should do test with the image as B&W, get the look and then look at it in motion and make the judgment call.
To paraphrase Robert Rodriguez, if people are noticing things like this when watching your movie you have more important things to worry about. The STORY.
IMO
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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