Print to Video – video is grainy…HELP

[Michael Sacci]

So many words, so little setting info.

I have read your post a couple of times and each time I’m thinking something totally different.

What is your source footage?
What is your timeline set to
Are you downconverting the seq before going to tape?
Do you have an external TV/Broadcast monitor to view the FCP seq?

My take the second read through, you are editing HD footage and wanting to print to tape but as DV, is that correct?

[Keith Chick]

Sorry…I’m new to this on the mac and Final Cut Pro side of things…I used different software on the PC and never had issues.

I thought the source footage is my Panasonic model HDC-DX1 at 1440×1080 resolution. Yes I’m trying to send hi def video to DV 720×480 miniDV camcorder. Comcast Cable Co here doesn’t accept AVI, mpg, mov files etc. They want a DV, miniDV tape etc.

I tried about every setting possible over a few hours and nothing changed the grainyness…initially I couldn’t get anything to the camera until I got the below settings…here are the settings:

Easy Setup:
Format: NTSC
Use: DV-NTSC
29.97 FPS

Audio/Video Summary Settings:
Sequence Preset: DV NTSC 48kHz
Capture Preset: DV NTSC 48kHz
Device Control: Firewire NTSC NDF
Video Playback: Apple Firewire NTSC (720×480)
Audio Playback: Firewire DV

A/V Devices Tab:
Video: Apple Firewire NTSC 720×480
Audio: Firewire DV
I DO NOT have the “Different output for “edit to tape/print to video” box checked.

How do I check my “Timeline” settings? I’m unsure of what parameter you need to know. Sorry for my lack of expertise.

I do not have an external broadcast monitor…as it records to camcorder I can see it on the iMac monitor and on the LCD screen of the camcorder.

I don’t believe I am downconverting specifically, but I guess I’m not sure. I thought it did that when it was sending the media to the camcorder minidv tape. I never had to do anything on the PC regarding downconverting. I appreciate your help with this as I have a commercial I need to get done this week and I don’t want to have to go do it on the PC.

[Keith Chick]

I think these are my timeline settings:

“Safe RT” is checked
Playback Video Quality is “Dynamic”
Playback Frame Rate is “Full”
“Multiclip Playback” is checked
“Record to Tape” is checked with “Full Quality”

I think I’m starting to see where you are going…please let me know which of these settings I should change. I can experiment, but your knowledge will save me time and aggravation. Thx.

[Michael Sacci]

[Keith Chick] “I thought the source footage is my Panasonic model HDC-DX1 at 1440×1080 resolution”
why these settings, how did you bring this is? FCP is not an automatic app, you have to know what and why you are doing each step. Some steps are made easy with easy setups but you still need to know why and what. I don’t know anything about that camera except it is a AVCHD camera, Does it record onto SD cards? Did you use log and transfer to get the clips into FCP?

Does this camera record 1440×1080? Did you bring it in as HDV?

[Keith Chick] “I do not have an external broadcast monitor…as it records to camcorder I can see it on the iMac monitor and on the LCD screen of the camcorder. “
Then you have no idea where the quality has been lost. This is a must to judge quality.

[Keith Chick] “I don’t believe I am downconverting specifically, but I guess I’m not sure. “
Well if you are editing HD footage and going to a DV tape you have to be downconverting somewhere.

So it kind of sounds like you have captured the footage as HDV 1440×1080 (not a good choice if you did) then placed this footage on a DV timeline (just guessing here), which would require you to render everything before playing it back.

To see what the sequence (timeline) is set to, right click (command-click) the seq in the bin and choose , then do the same for the clips but choose these should match.

[Keith Chick]

My camera records to mini DVD discs…I used log and transfer and it’s coming in as the full high def. Somewhere I remember a setting that said “full resolution” or something to that affect.

Yes…as I mentioned, the camera records at 1440×1080.

As I also mentioned…I am not specifically setting anything to “downconvert”…I assumed FCP did that automatically when going to the miniDV. Is it really “downconverting” via software??? It seems logical to me based on how most recording devices work with audio and video, it’s all based on what the recording deck is capable of. It seems that the miniDV will just take the incoming signal and only allow it’s maximum resolution to the tape, not the original hi def resolution. But if I specifically have to set something to downconvert then please tell me where to do that. I thought that might be what you were getting at with the timeline settings.

As far as the broadcast monitor…I don’t get it at all, lol. I understand someone doing this on a high-end level, and full-time, will have that…but I didn’t need it on my PC and was able to get excellent results. In my initial post that was “long winded” I actually did address that to some degree. I was telling you that the quality of video on my computer was excellent and when I did an “export” the files looked great…if I burn a video DVD the video looks great. Even uploading to youtube looked very good. So it seemed obvious to me that “loss of quality” was happening during the transfer to miniDV and that it was probably a setting or two that I had incorrect.

I made the assumption that I want to bring my video in at full resolution, but you are indicating I shouldn’t have done that. Then what should I set the “capture” settings to??? Why is 1440×1080 bad? I thought if I had the highest native camera resolution, that I would have more flexibility with whatever my needs for output are. I guess I figured I can always go down in quality but I can”t add resolution if I bring it in at a lower res. Once again…I’m sorry for not having the expertise you have and maybe sounding like an idiot.

I don’t think I’ve placed it on a DV Timeline (though I don’t know how to confirm that either). I thought that if I brought full resolution video in through log and transfer that the timeline would be the same when I dragged the video onto the timeline.

I greatly appreciate you attempting to help me, I’m trying to be as clear as I can.

[Keith Chick]

Well…you are pushing me in a direction to learn at least, lol. I think I am starting to understand a little bit about the timeline and the incoming media. I think you are referring to the “sequence” and “capture” presets, right? Right now they are both set to DV NTSC but could have been something else before I started messing with all this. Can I bring the video from my hi-def camera in at DV NTSC? Will that downconvert the resolution immediately? Or should I have the “sequence” and “capture” presets set to HDV and downconvert later?

[Michael Sacci]

You are jumping all around here.

You ARE downconverting, if you bring in HD footage put it on a SD timeline, FCP is downconverting. FW path nor the device does any type of conversion, it is a straight data connection.

If you are recording to a FW deck/camera, the video needs to be in that format before it enters the firewire ppipline.

Your problem probably is, you have HD footage on an SD timeline (sequence) this may not be rendered before you do the print to tape so you are not be sending a full resolution image. Now if you could list the info that I have asked for it would be helpful. (not trying to be mean, just asking again.) But it is hard to give tech advise to, I think or I’m not sure.

The quickest thing try is to make sure what you have is rendered. The stripe across the top of the timeline is gray, not green or orange. Render what you have now and see if that helps. (which maybe the quick answer you were looking for) 🙂

The way I would do it is to Transfer the footage as it was recorded onto the media (sounds like you have done this). Then set the FCP sequence to match the footage (sounds like you have not done this). Then if you need to print to DV Tape you would export the correct HD sequence via compressor, down-converting it to DV. Then bring that new file back into a new FCP sequence that is DV settings and use that to print to tape. That is the long way but would give you the best quality.

In the end the sequence setting of what you go out to DV tape has to be DV.

Note about external monitor, while you can edit without one, there is no way to judge the quality of the video or color without one, you are not seeing the real image on a computer or a 2″ screen. What they do is to help you know when and where the quality is getting reduced.