[Suika Suki]

In case anyone else is having similar problems, it seems as though my problem was with the render settings. I changed the compression from a DV/DVCPRO -NTSC to None and now once I export or dump to tape, it looks great. Before, using the former compressor, it reduced the quality to such a state that a face taking up 15% of the screen was unrecognizable.

[Suika Suki]

Still having the same problem.

Okay, so I checked my footage on a monitor as you all suggested and I still have the very same problem I began with. I even dumped my test to tape. The footage on the monitor looks similarly pixelated as the video on the screen.

My question is this: Do I need to change my render settings or some other video settings so that when I render footage that has been manupulated — for example, resizing or keyframing — it won’t create a huge quality difference? When I simply resize to 50%, the quality of my footage becomes noticeably worse — At 100% I can crisply see the glint in the eyes of the person, and at 50% I can hardly distinguish the features of the face. Please tell me if this has to do with any settings in Final Cut that I am not aware of. In my first post, I give a detailed description of the settings under sequence that I am using. For example, under Sequence –> settins –> I am using the quicktime compressor DV/DVCPRO – NTSC. Possibly this is not the correct drop-down location to change settings?

Thank you for any help on this matter.

[Suika Suki]

Still trying to figure this out. By the way I am using standard video in the HD editing environment – could that screw me up?

Thanks for the tip on the monitor. I’m going to do a test right now. I thought I could compare like footage on the computer – rendered and unrendered. But I’d also like to be able to see quality changes on the computer screen itself. Could you tell me where to change the RT extreme setting? Thanks.

[Suika Suki]

Thanks for the quick reply! Before attempting to recapture, I’ll see if I can export as quicktime or image sequences. I assume then that Final Cut takes image sequences?