Ugly H.264 export ??

[Walter Biscardi]

[Jakob Mortensen] “Now isnt the H.264 the equivalent of divX/avchd/blueray ?? Why is it so ugly from FCP ?
“

H.264 is just a codec. It can look good or bad depending on the original material and your settings.

We use Compressor and Telestream Episode Pro to make the H.264s so we have full control over all the settings.

An we create MPEG-2’s for BluRay disc, not H.264’s.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
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[Jakob Mortensen]

Ok, the material is HDV 1080i, i have used FCP quicktime eksport option, chosen the H264 codec in highest quality setting. Lat looked awfull. I will try and have a look at compressor.

Thanks for the info about blueray, I actually thought that blueray automatically meant H264 encoded material, and mpeg2 was standard DVD compression, but thanks for the information.

Best wishes

Jakob

[Sverker Hahn]

Do you have your native resolution?

Sverker Hahn, Stockholm

Slower is better!

Sony EX1
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[Jakob Mortensen]

Hi

I am not sure what you mean but i was downsampling at the same time as I was exporting in h.264.

I have now afterwards actually gotten better H264 in connection with mpeg4 compression.

Best wishes

Jakob

[Edwin Gendron]

what settings do you change / aim for in compressor??
motion filters?
bitrate?
specifically, should I **lower** the bitrate?

also, does conversion take you forever?
thank you
-edwin gendron

gendron, ed

[John Fishback]

I always make h.264s in Compressor. In addition to having more control over the encode parameters, it works way faster as Compressor will use all 8 cores.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.5 QT7.5.5 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 2 (FCP 6.0.5, Comp 3.0.5, DVDSP 4.2.1, Color 1.0.3)

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[Edwin Gendron]

well, im afraid compressor works well but takes longer than i have to give it.

for now Im sticking with chewing gum, rubber bands, FCP 4.5HD and an equally old version of after effects.
incidentally, Im extremely hesitant to say this but …I think i finally have it worked out.
I tried Mpeg exporter and that was indeed a handy program. however it lacked control over the *pixels*. Also tried FCP, compressor, quicktime, and I finally went back to After effects and discovered a plethora of options for pixels.
… and believe me it makes a difference…

Pixel choice changed the actual *shape* of the frame (longer vs shorter), thereby compressing the image (horizontally) and causing angular things to compress and not match up properly.

In after effects, I clicked the box for D1 instead of the native *square pixels* and voila.
some angular things still have occasional blocky edges *within* FCP … but sharpen up nicely to their *intended* look upon output.
(this may simply be FCP 4.5HD showing its age.)
fingers crossed.
-edg

gendron, ed