[Evan Thompson]

Hi C. Edward,

Make sure that your sequence settings match that of your video input. If you’re importing 1080p video into a 720p sequence, it is going to degrade the quality. Make sure the size and aspect ratios match. The field order should be set accordingly as well.
One way to tell if the settings match, is the colored bar that appears above the video when you import it into the sequence. If it’s red, something doesn’t match. If it’s yellow, everything should be good. If you know the settings match but the bar is still red, try changing the field order of the sequence.
Finally, it all must match on export/output as well. Same size, aspect ratio, field order, etc.

That’s what I found to be the big issue I was having all the time.

I hope this helps.
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

Hey Jordie,

I’m glad it worked out for you!
I know it can be frustrating to have the outcome so poor when you work so hard putting everything together.
Don’t forget to keep the aspect ratio and frame rate settings the same for exporting as well.

And thank you for asking. I’m glad you found my thread and got your answer.

Happy Editing!
Best Regards,
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

Hello Jordie,

Being that this was 10 months ago, my mind may not be the sharpest to exact details. I’ll try to help you out as best I can.

The issue was that I didn’t set all the steps to the same settings. When you start a PPro project, you create your sequence and then import your footage. This is where I needed the correction to be made. I need to have the aspect ratio and the frame rate of the sequence and source video to match.
For example, I have a 1920×1080 29.97 fps video clip that I import into the project. When I create a new sequence, if I choose the DV – NTSC Widescreen 48kHz 720×480 setting and import the footage into it, there will be a red bar over the footage. This means that the footage does not match the sequence and you must render for preview (enter) for it to preview smoothly (not resulting in better quality after exporting). I must create a sequence with the appropriate settings, which in this case would be the AVCHD 1080i30 (60i) Anamorphic preset which is the closest, and has a yellow line above the footage indicating that they match and don’t need to be rendered for previewing.
You may have to play around and create different sequences to see which one has the settings you want and has a yellow bar over the imported footage. I believe that versions newer than CS4 allow you to create a sequence from the footage, so that it matches perfectly.
The same goes when taking the project to or from After Effects, the aspect ratio and frame rate must be the same across all project sequences and compositions for that video clip. And then exporting the video needs to be the same as well.
That is what I found I was missing, and it seemed to have fixed the problem. The footage was being interpreted multiple different ways up to the final export.

So that’s what I found. And if that is your problem as well, then it might be an easy fix.

I hope you find this helpful.
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

Thank you for your response Stan Jones.
The DVDs I had gotten out before then were “good enough” and I was trying to get the best I could. So what I had was what I had to go with. So I did have something to show for the deadline. So the heat is down quite a bit. I guess I have to get used to getting disappointing in the quality at the end of every project.

Yes, I reverted to original so that it would reflect the quality changes.
The source is SD.
I did re-install Premiere and Encore but that didn’t seem to work.

I am getting indications that interpreting footage can make for a long intense render, so I am discovering. So I believe that interpreting the footage to lower fields first probably got things worked up, but I don’t know for sure. The projects are opening sometimes, but it isn’t efficient.

So if interpreting the footage in premiere was the cause for all this slowness then I’d have to put it back, which I did but have yet to experience reversed results.
Do you have any idea how to change the encore project quality settings to higher field first, or why I can’t change the field order? It’s always grayed out in the settings. Being able to change that would help the quality I believe.

If I have to make changes then I’ll have to deal with it, but otherwise it seams to have messed itself up a bit.
I just hate it when these programs act up. (They crash way too easily, even upon switching applications, and I don’t know if that’s common or not.)
Sorry for sounding rushed at all, I was starting to panic.
Thank you for your advice.
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

Alright, I can work with that. That’s as far as I knew about adjustment layers. I thought that maybe they could be applied to specific layers like in Photoshop.

Thank you for your help and information. I appreciate it.
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

And another quick question to go with that.

What is the proper way to have the adjustment layer effect only select layers instead of everything below it? I know I can create a different sequence for just the layers I want effected, but is there a better way to do that?

-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

An adjustment layer! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I guess I was thinking on a different track.

That should do the trick.

Thank you!
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

Mark, I’m glad to hear it was very successful for you. I don’t hear those kind of turnouts often.
I understand what you are saying, thank you for the advice. I’ll look into it more.

Kylee, I understand.
If anything, it’s more like it’s the degree that would be in the way; either I need it and don’t have it, or I get it but I don’t need it.
But I will keep working toward my goals regardless of whether I would be getting a degree or not. I just needed to know the balance between getting a degree or bypassing it. And it is getting clearer for me, allowing me to decide which direction to take.

Thanks,
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

Thank you for all the advice.

They say “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. I see how it is a huge help knowing the right people, and that’s one thing I have yet to get.

What I am mainly getting here is that a college degree for editing is not needed for most video editing jobs, and on-the-job experience is one of the best teachers. I would assume this to be the case, but I wasn’t totally sure about the degrees. Your feedback is very encouraging.

Although I haven’t had opportunities to work in professional companies, I do hope to be able to do so in the near future to help me get closer to where I need to be.

Thank you everyone so much for all of your seasoned advice and tips!
If anybody else has any more advice, tips or hints from their past experiences, feel free to add on, it would be beneficial to get all the advice and tips I can.

Thank you,
-Evan

[Evan Thompson]

Andrew,
I guess the most encouraging part for me is that the on-the-job experience is one of the best ways to learn. I have had quite a bit of experience with video editing, though not many big or public ones, yet.

Congratulation on making your goal on time!

I will definitely keep goals in mind. I am going to have to keep them short-term goals for now.

Good advice. Thank you.

By the way, what is the proper, or most preferred method of transferring video and resources, raw or finished to and from your client or video source? Would you have to make a physical hand-off or would you use some online method?

-Evan