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P2 Footage looks a bit soft – ideas?
Hope someone can help – I imported some P2 footage into FCP just before I got my Decklink Pro HD PCI-X card. I used the (Apple) DVCPRO HD – 1080i50 Easy Setup for the import.
Now I have put the card in and all is running as it should, I have selected ‘Blackmagic HDTV 1080i 50 – DVCPRO HD’ Easy Setup. Pretty certain that this is the right setup as footage didn’t need rendering or anything. I am monitoring via Component to my JVC monitor (I am in UK, PAL). I am just noticing that the picture is rather soft. This is in comparison to playing footage using the BM DVPAL setting – this looks pin-sharp.
Is this a characteristic of the format or is something amiss?
Thanks, Martin.
G5 Dual 2G, FCStudio v. 5.0.4, BM Decklink HD Pro
Firmtek ext. RAID 1.2Tb -
12 Replies
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can you post a full res still of the soft footage?
-Noah
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Noah,
Don’t know whether you can see what I mean, but try: https://www.videodvdmaker.co.uk/SoftImageP2.tif
Thanks, Martin.
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Are you viewing with full quality/safe on your RT settings?
-Noah
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That shot does look a bit soft- could be focus or could be that at 1080 that camera is not going to be pin sharp on very wide shots.
Noah
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Yes, up to full quality on the sequence settings – have been fiddling around, but still no joy. Still looks like footage is slightly soft-focused.
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I think that I may have narrowed this down to a Downconverting problem – my settings for downconversion are (Hardware conversion) HD to SD 16:9 Anamorphic. Picture still looking soft. DV Footage looks great, as mentioned earlier.
I am sure that there is something simple that I haven’t done, but I am at a loss for now, and a bit desperate to get to the bottom of this!
Thanks – Martin.
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Hi Martin,
The sample frame you have provided does look soft. So if it is soft, it’s not going to look any better when output via the DeckLink card.
I think your camera has component analog output and you could connect it to your JVC component monitor. If it looks soft on the monitor that way, then it is still going to look soft when output via the DeckLink card. The question would then be to work out why the original footage is soft.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
What camera was it shot with?
Did you have to render the clip on the timeline?
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Jonathan, I am not sure (as I am just editing the client’s footage), but I think that it was the Panasonic HVX 200.
I didn’t need to render the clip on the timeline. So I am presuming that it was shot at 1080i50 rather than progressive.
Martin.
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[Martin Phillips] “but I think that it was the Panasonic HVX 200.”
That’s part of the problem, the VX200 does not have a true 1080 res sensor and uses pixel shifting (offset sensors) and interpolation to get 1080.
So if you usually work with real 1080 res cameras the VX200 looks very soft and lacking in detail
Focus is off, which won’t help.
Jonathan Smiles
Managing Director/CEO
Digital Safari Ltd
UK – Specialist Reseller
dCinema – HD – SD
https://www.digitalsafari.co.uk
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