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Still exported from QT is crappy
Why when I export a still from QT Pro it looks like crap, even if I do an uncompressed TIFF, but if I export a still from the same footage from FCP it looks better. FCP only exports the still at 960×720 (which drives me nuts), but when I bring it into FCP and fix the image size back to 1280×720 it looks a lot better than just exporting from within QT Pro. So much more time consuming…is there an easier solution?
Thanks,
EliEli Mavros
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10 Replies
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My guess is that you are using a Sony HDR-FX1 or Z1 or one of the other new JVC or Panasonic HDV cameras. The image CCD sensor for the Sony is 960 pixels horizontally but uses pixel shift technology to get 1280.
This could be the source of your confusion.
Prosumer HD Camera Roundup-updated at HD For Indies may give you some more insight. The underlines are links.
Google.com search terms:
hdv 960 720 1280 “Pixel Shift” OR pixelshiftInquiring minds…
Bryce WhitesideDon’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…
PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion -
No, this is not HDV, this is DVCPRO HD using a Panasonic Varicam. Some reason FCP interprets 720×1280 footage this way…but is not the problem. My problem is wanting to just be able to export good looking still of this footage though QT Pro, but they look bad.
Best,
EliEli Mavros
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From DV – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DVCPRO HD, also known as DVCPRO100, uses four parallel codecs and a coded video bitrate of 100 Mbit/s. Despite HD in its name, DVCPROHD downsamples native 720p/1080i signals to a lower resolution. 720p is downsampled from 1280×720 to 960×720, and 1080i is downsampled from 1920×1080 to 1280×1080 for 59.94i and 1440×1080 for 50i. Compression ratio is approximately 7:1. To maintain compatibility with HDSDI, DVCPRO100 equipment internally downsamples video during recording, and subsequently upsamples video during playback. A camcorder using as special variable-framerate (from 4 to 60 frame/s) variant of DVCPRO HD called VariCam is also available. All these variants are backward compatible but not forward compatible.
Check out HD For Indies – SATA RAID HD Capture Tests, FRC & DVCPRO HD codec quirks and scroll down to the bottom to the heading Shooting with Varicam for best results
It’s still downsampled to 960×720.
Inquiring minds…
Bryce WhitesideDon’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…
PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion -
I get this…but what I am still not getting is why it looks better if I export a still of this footage from FCP than if I export it from QT Pro.
Thanks for the replies,
EliEli Mavros
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This is a complete stab in the dark and I am not near my Mac FCP system right now, but FCP is probably more DVCPRO HD codec aware than QuickTime Pro.
Why wouldn’t you want to export from FCP anyway?
Cheers,
Bryce WhitesideDon’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…
PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion -
I wanted to do it from QT cuz I can just press apple C and copy the frame that I’m paused on and then paste it in a new Photoshop file…plus it is the right dimensions. From FCP I would have to export each individually, or make freeze frames and then batch export them…then bring the into Photoshop and change the dimensions to the correct 1280×720.
-Eli
Eli Mavros
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Eli,
I understand your “pain” with this stuff. However, it appears that the bottle-neck ends up in Photoshop (you end up there with your still images, either from QT Player or FCP). This is lucky, in a sense, because Photoshop has easy-to-use “Actions.” You can just automate the process of resizing your images.
FYI, other than the “sizing” issue in FCP, QuickTime Player, and the general QT framework, is pretty lousy at playing back accurate video imagery (outside of FCP). From some sources, it appears to be an issue with QT 7 (supposedly QT 6 wasn’t as problematic).
A month ago, I would play back a DV sequence (exported as a self-contained QT movie from within FCP, or created using Compressor, or QT conversion menu items). All of them played back with visual degradation in QT Player. Playing back the same QT movies in FCP, however, yielded no degradation. Go figure. Same QT file, one played in a FCP Viewer window, the other in a QT Player window… but different-looking.
-Dave
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Well, I should have been a little more specific in my answer/comments. At the time I experienced a difference in video image quality when playing back DV-25 footage from a QT movie file (NTSC DV interlaced) in QT Player in FCP 5.0.3, I believe my QT version was 7.0.3 (Mac OS X 10.4.3).
Aside from reports of LCD monitors providing less than stellar quality with interlaced footage playback, I recall reading a tech note from DeckLink about no longer supporting “valid” QT playback in QT Player via their “desktop preview” mode (their desktop preview feature was to allow “QuickTime compliant” apps to have content seen on an external broadcast monitor via the DeckLink card). They mentioned something about a change in the QT framework in QT 7 (compared with QT 6). I am not sure if this is a bug in QT 7 (there are several known bugs in QT7) or a feature/capability that was removed (and may be later reborn). After I found the tech note info (part of one of the DeckLink driver ReadME files), I realized why my broadcast monitor was showing such a bad image during playback in QT Player (while the same QT file looked just fine, or as expected, when played back in an FCP Viewer window or in the original timeline/sequence).
I could also see a bit of difference in the display of the movie file on my Apple 23″ LCD display between FCP and QT Player.
For my setup at the time, I discovered that only good “preview” of my exported QT file (using different export methods didn’t affect things) was to watch it in an FCP Viewer window (and displayed to my broadcast monitor, of course) and not use QT Player.
I hope I didn’t confuse matters.
-Dave
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Thanks Dave for your timely response.
As indicated by your research, there must be an additional component/switch/pointer in FCP to insure the proper display of DVCPRO HD codec footage that QuickTime Pro doesn’t use or have.
Inquiring minds…
Bryce Whiteside
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