Steppy Edges / pixelated edges after exporting (H264)

[John Fishback]

How are you monitoring?

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[Michiel Geluykens]

I just play the exported file on my Macbook Pro. Want to solve this before burning to DVD…

[Michael Gissing]

Three issues. Firstly don’t convert the final timeline to DV codec. This is a poor transcoding and will degrade you image before you convert it to mpeg2 for the DVD. Most here recommend using FCP>Export>Quicktime Movie>Use Current settings. Then take that into Compressor and use a DVD preset to convert before making the DVD in DVD Studio Pro. Going DV or AIC codec and using iMovie will disappoint.

Secondly DVDs will have interlacing as they are standard definition. Depending on the SD format (PAL or NTSC) the field order needs to be correctly set in Compressor. Check the sequence settings first to make sure what your HD sequence is set to. It could be None or Upper. Let us know what these settings are if you need more help.

Thirdly on a computer monitor you will see interlacing as a bad thing causing steppy edges. This is normal but not indicative of how the DVD will look on a set top player on a normal TV. You need to judge it on that screen, not the computer screen.

So have another go using this workflow and pay attention to the field order. This has also been covered here on this forum a gazzillion times so a search may just answer any remaining questions. Forum search is a valuable resource, much under used.

[Michiel Geluykens]

Thanks Michael,
I did search but didn’t find an answer for my specific settings, as I said before, I’m using H264.

I’m actually a noob at editing, I don’t do it much as I normally just write and direct, so could you please help me a bit further?

My sequence settings:

1920 X 1080
Aspect ratio: HDTV 1080i (16:9)
Field dominance: upper (odd)
Editing timebase: 25

Quicktime video settings: Compressor H.264

1) I have tried exporting using current settings, but somehow this doesn’t seem to work out correctly for this project: when I play the export I get a skippy file and green frames! Could this be because it’s H264? So what other setting could you recommend?

2) The DVD needs to be PAL, how do I set the interlacing correctly in the compressor? (I have never used the compressor before, what else can I do with it?)

3) Unfortunately I can’t test the DVD on the screen it will be played on, as it will be screened in a cinema tomorrow morning!

Thanks for the help, much appreciated!

[Michael Gissing]

Firstly in PAL everything is upper field. This is good news. You could try exporting the self contained movie as ProRes422. Make sure the frame size and frame rate match the sequence.

Take that ProRes file into Compressor and use the 90 minute preset (if that is long enough). You will see the edges on the computer monitor but they shouldn’t show on a TV or cinema projector. Have you spoken to the cinema? Perhaps they can play the file as an H264 file in HD or even as an mpeg2 transport stream in HD.All this grief about a DVD might be unnecessary.

And a tip for searching in the future, don’t limit it by being too specific. Using Compressor to make a DVD has been covered many times and a wealth of useful advice on best settings in Compressor are available.

[Michiel Geluykens]

Thanks Michael,
I will try this and let you know if it worked out. The cinema unfortunately only plays DVD.
As I told you before I’m a noob when it comes to this stuff… Could you tell me which Prores 422 setting I should select? There are a load of options (LT, HQ , Pal, NTSC, …)

Thanks!

[Michael Gissing]

ProRes 422 1920 x 1080 25 fps

[Michiel Geluykens]

Thanks, I’ll try and let you know if it worked!

[Tom Brooks]

Since you shot on a Canon 7D, your clips are progressive–not interlaced, upper field first. That camera does not record 1080i. So, your clips are 1080p25. Your sequence should match that. If Final Cut doesn’t ask if you want to change sequence settings to match your clips, you should set sequence to:

1920 X 1080
Aspect ratio: HDTV 1080i (16:9)
Field dominance: None
Editing timebase: 25

I’d suggest making a copy of your sequence and change the Field Dom. on the copy to None.

Since you’ve already done the edit without converting clips (must have been agonizing), I’d probably just change the final sequence’s Quicktime Compressor setting to ProRes 422 and render. Then export a self-contained or reference movie. The exported movie will also be 1080p25. Take that into Compressor to make MPEG-2 and AC-3 assets. I would check to make sure that Compressor recognizes the Quicktime movie as progressive rather than (incorrectly) interlaced, upper first.

If your sequence properly matches your clips, you should get better quality. I suppose you’ve heard by now that your best bet in future would be to use the new Log and Transfer plugin for the Canon camera, which can be obtained from the Canon site. At the very least, convert the original clips to ProRes 422 in Compressor. It makes life so much easier.

[Michael Gissing]

As the final output will be an interlaced PAL SD DVD, there is no point in changing the HD sequence settings.