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Mpeg2 looks better than Quick time but I need a great looking quicktime
I am having some strange problems that have stumped me, if anyone can help that would be a life saver.
Macpro 2×2.66ghz, 4GB DDR2 FB-DIMM
OSX 10.4.11
FCP 5.1.4
Compressor 2.3
FIREWIRE 800 HDD’s: 1TB Lacie Raid 0, 500GB Lacie, 250GB Lacie.This is basically everything that is connected to my computer.
MY PROBLEM:
I am working on an 80 min edit in FCP.FCP will unexpectedly quit when I try to FILE:EXPORT:COMPRESSOR – assuming being able to do this will solve my problem.
I am able to export FILE:EXPORT:QUICKTIME just fine and then take that into compressor and export mpeg2 for 90 min dvd best quality(default settings). The mpeg2 ends up looking better then the quicktime.
The Mpeg2 looks sharper, colors are a little more vibrant, any jagged edges are smoothed out or sharper. I’m happy with how it looks.
I make these observations by opening both in quicktime player and viewing it on my apple lcd. The quicktime is fuzzy and blurry compared to the mpeg2.
I need to master to tape for film fest viewing(dvcam,digibeta, beta sp). In case it makes a difference I’ll mention that I need to transfer to dvcam soonest.
I would think that a quicktime would be the best format to transfer seeing as that is a lot less compressed. BUT it doesn’t look as good. Should I use the MPEG2(lower quality?)?
So first Problem is that quicktime doesn’t look as good as mpeg2.
Second problem is that I have to restart the computer sometimes to refresh the ram so I can completely render large quantities of render files. Strange? But I no longer have to render anything, but I don’t know if this ram thing is connected with not being able to export FILE:EXPORT:COMPRESSOR thru FCP.
Thank you for checking this out. I hope I haven’t confused anyone or left to much info out.
Paul
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3 Replies
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[Paul Stoll] “I make these observations by opening both in quicktime player and viewing it on my apple lcd. The quicktime is fuzzy and blurry compared to the mpeg2.”
Paul,
You can’t judge interlaced video on a computer monitor, period, end of story, and the proof is in the pudding, because it is absolutely impossible for video to be better than the original after encoding to MPEG-2. Get yourself a Kona or Blackmagic card and a monitor, or even pipe your firewire through a camera and out to a TV to see what you’ve got.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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[Paul Stoll] “I need to master to tape for film fest viewing(dvcam,digibeta, beta sp). In case it makes a difference I’ll mention that I need to transfer to dvcam soonest. “
What format was it shot in and what format are you editing in? (what ever that is will still be better than working from your dvd conversion of that format)
“everything is broken” ……Bob Dylan
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With some help from another post I figured it out. It was really silly.
I returned my broadcast monitor and was comparing on my lcd screen. In quicktime player. The mpeg2 looked good the quicktime didn’t.
There is a setting in quicktime player preferences to check use HD video when needed or something like that. After that was checked everything looked normal.
I guess my higher resolution footage was being compressed by quicktime player.
At the same time I exported FCP quicktime conversion:Animation codec. The file is 100 GB but it looks great in my case.
I ended up using that export to master. I’ll let you guys know how it looks on the big screen playing through dvcam.
Thanks for your help,
Paul
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