Blurring in sequence

any reason as to why when i import footage it looks very clear in the canvas but when i render it, it becomes blurry?
Thanks!

#28 Having to render every clip in the timeline
Shane's Stock Answer #28: When I put a clip in the timline, I have to render it before it will play. Why?
Your clip settings MUST match your timeline settings. If you have DV/NTSC material, you need a DV/NTSC timeline. The frame rate, audio rate and dimensions (4:3, 16:9) all need to match exactly. In Final Cut Pro 6, this is easy, because when you drop a clip into the timeline, it asks if you want to set up the timeline to match the settings of the first clip you drag into it. Click YES and you are ready to go.
However, in FCP 5.1 and earlier, it is a bit trickier.
The most important thing you need to do is properly set up your project from the start, and the best way to do this is to choose a setting from the Easy Setups, located under the Final Cut Pro menu.
Once you do this, you’ll need to create a new sequence. This is because the sequence that is already in your new project is setup for the typical default setting of DV/NTSC, or for the settings of your last project, which might not match what you are currently working with. So delete SEQUENCE 1 and create a new sequence:
This new sequence will contain the settings you chose in the Easy Setup menu, and should match the format you captured.
Shane

Similar Messages

Tiff OK in viewer - blurred in sequence

Well, the subject says it all, really!
I created a Tiff using Grab, and when I preview it in the viewer it looks good (well, fine!) If I paste it into the sequence, even after rendering it looks impossibly blurred.
The size of the tiff is 1849x986 - if I reduce this, would it help? What should I use to reduce it - iPhoto?
Thanks in advance.

I know this will sound really stupid, but it works for me in FCP 4.5 when I encounter the same condition; drop a filter on the image - any filter. I use the 3-Way Color Corrector since its always RT preview. You don't need to make any adjustments if you don't want to ... that part doesn't seem to matter. See if t works for you.
-DH

Using BlurFilter

Hi,
I'm trying to create a "motion blur" effect on a movie clip
that contains a child clip/ sprite whose child clips/ sprite
contain bitmap data using this function
quote:
private function dispatchOnEnterFrame(e) {
if (Math.round(Math.abs(finalX-cX))<1) {
holder.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,dispatchOnEnterFrame);
return;
imgHolder.x+=Math.round(finalX-imgHolder.x)/6;
cX+=(finalX-cX)/12;
var per=100*(10-(finalX-cX)/diffX);
_percentage+=(per-_percentage)/12;
var blur:BlurFilter = new BlurFilter();
blur.quality = BitmapFilterQuality.MEDIUM;
blur.blurX=10-(.5)*Math.sin(Math.PI*_percentage/100);
blur.blurY=10-(.5)*Math.sin(Math.PI*_percentage/100);
trace(blur.blurY);
holder.filters = [blur];
On an on click the the child clip is scrolled to a position
and the blur filter is supposed to be changed from a blurred to
none. However only on the first advancement it blurs and changes.
Further more i'm not even sure the blur filter sequence is working.
commenting out the blurring sequence the clip's blurred doesn't
stay for some reason...however i'm not sure
I'm using code from the tutorial
http://www.actionscript.org/resource...ial/Page1.html
What causes the clip to "lose the blur". I'm substituting the
scaling with the blurring

is it that when you ad a child to a blurred movieclip that
blurfilter is removed?

Adding directional blur to adjustment layer/nested sequence

When adding a directional blur to adjustment layer or a nested sequence in MPE hardware mode the sides get dark (alpha channel shows).
When turning MPE off the issue is gone.
Already submitted a bugreport but found out its MPE hardware.
Seen this issue in a previous version of Premiere. Think it was fixed then, but now its back.
MPE on:
MPE off: this is how it should be.
Can someone test this, and see it its reproducable.
Message was edited by: Ann Bens

This is how it looks for me when I take a extension with a alpha channel over a simple BG and turn Cuda on then turn Cuda off.
The image above is with GPU acceleration turned on.
This image below this sentence is with software on.
In a way it appears simliar to your findings since when my GPU accleration is turned on you can see a white boarder creeping up from the bottom and top but with it off you don't see it.
However when I turn the blur up higher and try it again I get these results.
GPU On in the image directly below.
GPU off in the image below this sentence.
I'm using the exact same blur settings in both images... In the top image you can see that white is taking over the picture.
This has GPU on in the image below this sentence.
This is Software only on in the pic below this sentence.
Not really sure if this confirms anything for you or not though. Just figured I'd post it cause the issue seemed intresting to me. Anyways though here were my findings.

How do I use a Sequence component in a separate file?

I have my TileList control in the following code, and the data effect code in a separate file. I can't link them together. Here is the example I read (http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=createeffects_5.html), but it's in flex 3 version. I don't know how to do that in flex 4. Can you one tell me how to do it?
//======================CODE START
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:TileList xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
             xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
             xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"
             itemsChangeEffect="{dataEffect}">                                 // <- Where my question is
    <fx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import effects.dataEffect;
        ]]>
    </fx:Script>
</mx:TileList>
//======================CODE END
My data effect in a separate file effects/dataEffect.mxml here:
//======================CODE START
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Group xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
         xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
         xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx">
    <fx:Declarations>
        <s:Sequence id="seq">
            <mx:Blur
                blurYTo="12" blurXTo="12"
                duration="300"
                perElementOffset="150"
                filter="removeItem"/>
            <mx:SetPropertyAction
                name="visible" value="false"
                filter="removeItem"/>
            <mx:UnconstrainItemAction/>
            <mx:Parallel>
                <mx:Move
                    duration="750"
                    perElementOffset="20"/>
                <mx:RemoveItemAction
                    startDelay="400"
                    filter="removeItem"/>
                <mx:AddItemAction
                    startDelay="400"
                    filter="addItem"/>
                <mx:Blur
                    startDelay="410"
                    blurXFrom="18" blurYFrom="18" blurXTo="0" blurYTo="0"
                    duration="300"
                    filter="addItem"/>
            </mx:Parallel>
        </s:Sequence>
    </fx:Declarations>
</s:Group>
//======================CODE END

Hey!
Thanks, but I wrote
19. dyemotion,
Nov 18, 2013 9:43 AM    in reply to TREX
Thanks,
but I need the file in png or jpg.
I have to upload this image and there is no other data type possible. :/
that I need png or jpg.
And of course. By every change of the saving options, I tried how it looks when its uploaded.
But every time it doesn't look like it should be.
That is the reason why I wrote my questions in this forum.

What are the best sequence settings in FCP 5 for exporting screen capture video footage?

I capture video footage of websites in order to showcase in a demo reel. Using Snapz Pro, the compression type I have found to have the best quality is H264. When I take this footage into FCP (v5.1.4), I choose DV NTSC 48khz for the sequence setting. If I then select H264 for the sequence compression type, when I go to render I get a 'Codec error.'
The only way I am able to render properly is by choosing DV NTSC 48khz for the sequence setting and DV/DVCPRO-NTSC as my sequence compression type. The problem with this though is I get a perfect picture in the Viewer, but the picture quality in the Canvas (and the subsequent exported video) is slightly blurred.
I've been trying to find a solution to this problem off and on for years. I've finally decided now to get to the bottom of the issue. If you can solve this one you are my hero!
Ted

Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried using DVCPRO HD in the past, but the picture quality of the captured screen footage turns out blurry. The only codecs I've found that provide a perfectly clear image are H264, Animation and Uncompressed 8-bit. The problem with the latter two is that video files lasting only a few seconds measure in the 100s of MBs. Working with files that large would slow my editing and rendering down to a non-workable length.
I just don't understand why I can't edit H264 video if my sequence codec is set to H264. The 'Codec error' I get is baffling.

Premiere Pro CC crashes after 25% rendering, has particular issues with directional blur effect

I've only been using Premiere for a single project as my university specified we should use it, I'm not used to such a complex programme, or even video editing to be honest, so bear with me. (I'm following that guide on what information to add to questions on this forum)
I'm using Premiere Pro CC with the 7.2.1 update, that's the most recent update
I'm on Windows 7
Version
6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
I'm not actually sure what a codec is but my source material is just one .jpg image, I put effects on it in one project then imported it to another project though
Here's the problem message
Problem Event Name:
APPCRASH
Application Name:
Adobe Premiere Pro.exe
Application Version:
7.2.1.4
Application Timestamp:
52aed7f3
Fault Module Name:
OpenCL.dll
Fault Module Version:
1.2.11.0
Fault Module Timestamp:
52a242a8
Exception Code:
c0000005
Exception Offset:
0000000000002b89
OS Version:
6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID:
2057
Additional Information 1:
5273
Additional Information 2:
52739eafd9c00fbd41b66266050284b2
Additional Information 3:
750c
Additional Information 4:
750c2263c4fb3446348e7454d5714618
Computer:
Processor
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
I THINK I have a AMD Radeon HD 7870 which isn't supposed to be supported for GPU acceleration
Premier crashes when it gets to the point in my sequence where I used the directional blur effect (I'm pretty sure that's when it crashes anyway), it also can't export I assume because it can't render
this is like 4 seonds of video as well
I reaaaaally need it to work soon because I have university deadlines to meet and I need Premiere Pro to finish my work
Hope someone can give some advice

I tried it without the directional blur effect and it rendered fine, for some reason it just can't deal with directional blur...

(CS4) Why is Premiere CS4 modifying TIFF files in a sequence?

Hello,
decided to post here, because I didn't find any old postings of this subject anywhere.
I'm composing 2-d drawn animation on AE and editing in Premiere, then importing to
Avid media composer for exporting to Sony Digital Beta tape via SDI. When working in
CS3 and earlier, everything was nice, AE made about 1730 kB TIFF files and Premiere
kept them the same size, you just needed to select export -> movie... Tiff sequence,
deselect recompress, select best quality and optimize stills. File sizes were the same,
and I could rest assured that the original AE image quality was still there.
Now in CS4, something fundamental has changed. AE CS4 still makes perfect TIFF
animation frames (at 1024x576 same as CS3, about 1730kB and at 1050x576 about
1770kB).
So far, so good.
In Premiere 2.0 and 3.0, you could select a preselection 720*576 pal widescreen
composition and when exporting the edited animation would get the same pixel-level
IQ as from a custom Desktop: 1024*576 square pixel composition, when using the
Export movie described above. This to me looks like Premiere uses the original
TIFF material.
But in Premiere 4.0, something weird happens. If I use a 720*576 pal widescreen
preset (with AE CS4 1050*576 animation sequences) and export 1050*576 pal
widescreen square pixel image sequences, Adobe Media Encoder chops off 330
square pixels and stretches the image horizontally for blurred, sad results.
EXPORT MOVIE never did this!
Having found that out, I use only custom-> desktop: 1024 or 1050 projects now,
but here again something weird happens: Adobe Media encoder adds about 600kB
to every TIFF frame, and I'm almost unable to notice the difference, but I would say
that the images certainly don't look any better than the ones that were imported to
Premiere, more on the opposite. So, in every option but when exporting one TIFF at
a time Media Encoder alters the superb AE TIFFs.
Why on earth does Adobe want to add a huge amount of useless bits, in animation
the disk space required increases very significantly. What was wrong with the
EXPORT MOVIE option?
I'm asking should I just edit in Premiere 3 if I want unchanged, superb AE quality
TIFF sequences? Premiere gives it when I export only 1 frame, but as soon as I tick
"Export as sequence" it starts Adobe Media encoder which affects all frames, even
those with no Premiere effects on them. Premiere 3 preserved original IQ even in
PAL editing mode (export movie uncompressed) but Encoder in CS4 either
loses 30% of the pixels or adds about 600kB more air!?!?!
1050*576 is not a must for me because I want web movies to be 16:9 sqpix and
the Avid where I work in prefers 1024*576 over 1050*576 in Digital Betacam tape
exporting for uncompromised broadcasting results.
This issue is affecting many animatiors here in Finland, in CS3 and earlier there
were no problems because Premiere respected AE quality work, but now this Media
Encoder has messed things up, not selecting Custom-desktop-1024/1050 will ruin any
animation movie image sequence and selecting it makes files A LOT bigger without any
improvement in IQ.
I hope someone from Adobe could explain what on earth is going on in Premiere
development? Many animation professionals in Finland are awaiting your kind reply.
Anyone with a clue what's going on in the altering can give a hand!
Olli Laamanen, Finland

I did additional testing by comparing exported frames from Premiere
to the AE frames. Only when I delete all render files before export, do I get
the same image pixel-wise. But then there's the extra ~600kB of data.
Does anyone know what that is, a colleague suggested it might be the color
profile or some metadata added by adobe media encoder. I'd really like
to know what it is! Someone who knows something about this Adobe
Media Encoder might have the answer.
So if you are using AE and Premiere to make animation and want to
keep your master footage unchanged, the equivalent for CS3 export ->
movie -> TIFF uncompressed is to
-work only in desktop mode
-delete all render files before exporting media through the encoder
otherwise CS4 will change your images.
Like this it doesn't change the images but adds over 30% additional
data (somekind of tags/metadata)?
Anyone with a guess what it is, please help!

Images imported from QT exported image sequence have jagged edges

Hi
I've come across something strange which I'd like to resolve.
I export an image sequence from QuickTime.
I then import this into Aperture.
But the images imported into Aperture now have jagged edges where there has been any movement in the original footage.
The images originally exported from QuickTime look absolutely fine when viewed with preview, they have the expected blurring on moving objects, but no jaggedness.
Now, a bit more detail.
The footage I'm exporting from was shot by me and came from a Final Cut Pro edit.
The codec in the QT movie is Apple Intermediate Codec and this is interlaced.
The jagged edges on movement look to me like the problem of interlaced not being converted to progressive.
However the exported images from QuickTime don't display this when viewed in Preview, it is only when viewed in Aperture that the jagged edges become apparent.
I have tried exporting from QuickTime to jpg, png and psd, but the problem is identical no matter which format I use.
I really want to now use Aperture to improve these exported images, but with this jagged edge problem I can't.

Hi JNorris--
Sounds like you need to apply the deinterlace filter (Effects tab: video filters: video: deinterlace) to the stills your exporting.
See if that makes a difference to start.
T.

Video filters not working when applied to sequence clips

I have looked through the forums and haven't found the solution to my problem. I am having problems with video filters on clips in the timeline. I have footage that needs color correction. In the viewer I created a 3 way filter for one clip, saved it, and applied to all clips in the browser. They all open corrected in the viewer. (I did this because i was reviewing the clips with my client).
When I put the clip in the timeline it does not indicate it needs a render, the filter does not appear on the clip, but when I double click and open the sequence clip in the viewer the color correction tab is there. I've removed attributes and tried again several times, both using the menu with the clip selected, and by doulbleclicking the clip into the viewer and apply the filter there. The tab is always there but the filter does not appear on the clip. It only appears when the process is done to clips from the browser inthe viewer. I've checked the RT for unlimted, I've done a render all video, I've checked settings under the render tab and filters is checked. I've gone into another project and have the same problem in a different project with different clips. I had a recent project where I used a blur effect and it worked fine. My video is DV and my sequence settings are DV NTSC.
I've run out of my ideas and comments from ither threads. What is my next troubleshoot? Should I delete preferecnes? I haven't done that with FCP, can I do it myself or use Rescue? Could that create other problems for me? Any other ideas?
I work in Afghanistan and have no resources here for any Mac support besides books and forums.
Thanks

Hey Catrina
Not sure what the issue is with your application of the 3-Way Color Corrector in the Browser. My guess, is that perhaps you only thought you applied the "saved" instance of the 3-way corrector but instead applied a default neutral instance of the corrector. How did you save the correction you applied to the other instances? A good method is, having applied and tweaked it as needed to a sample clip instance, you can drag a copy of it out of the clip's Filter tab and drop it directly into your Browser window. To check, then double click that Browser instance of the corrector to open it in the Viewer window and see if has the corrections settings as expected and no the default ones. If so, go ahead and drag it to another clip instance in the Browser and then drag that clip to your sequence ... has the correction "stuck" bow? But while we figure it out, for now, why not just apply the saved correction directly to the clips in the sequence? Regarding trashing your preferences ... download Preference Manager from Digital Rebellion. Very straightforward to use.
Cheers
Andy

After Effects PNG Sequence Error Help Please

When I try to render a png sequence I got the following errors
After effects warning: Could not create file <file path> Access was denie
Another message box saying
AEGP plugin PNGIO Support: Unable to create PNGIO
(5027::12)
Another message box saying
After Effects error cannot close a closed file
(3::5)
It renders a few frames and then it crashes with these errors. Please help THANKS

Here is my log
Adobe After Effects v12.0 (Windows 64) render log for project “Untitled Project.aep”
Rendering started on 11/8/2014 at 9:34:58 AM
11/8/2014 9:34:58 AM: Starting composition “cinematicsPre 2”.
Render Settings: Best Settings
Quality: Best
Resolution: Full
Size: 1702 x 953
Proxy Use: Use No Proxies
Effects: Current Settings
Disk Cache: Read Only
Color Depth: Current Settings
Frame Blending: On for Checked Layers
Field Render: Off
Pulldown: Off
Motion Blur: On for Checked Layers
Solos: Current Settings
Time Span: Work Area
Start: 0:00:04:10
End: 0:00:25:27
Duration: 0:00:21:19
Frame Rate: 30.00
Guide Layers: All Off
Skip Existing Files: Off
Output Module:Lossless
Output To:C:\Users\Matthew\Desktop\Youtube Stuff\ObeyRC\Sequence\1\cinematicsPre 2_[#####].png
Format: PNG
Output Info: -
Start Frame: 130
Output Audio: -
Channels: RGB
Depth: Millions of Colors
Color: Premultiplied
Resize: -
Crop: -
Final Size: 1702 x 953
Profile: -
Post-Render Action: None
0:00:04:10 (1): 3 Seconds
0:00:04:11 (2): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:12 (3): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:13 (4): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:14 (5): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:15 (6): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:16 (7): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:17 (8): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:18 (9): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:19 (10): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:20 (11): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:21 (12): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:22 (13): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:23 (14): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:24 (15): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:25 (16): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:26 (17): 0 Seconds
0:00:04:27 (18): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:28 (19): 1 Seconds
0:00:04:29 (20): 1 Seconds
0:00:05:00 (21): 1 Seconds
0:00:05:01 (22): 1 Seconds
0:00:05:02 (23): 1 Seconds
0:00:05:03 (24): 0 Seconds
After Effects warning: Could not create the file 'C:\Users\Matthew\Desktop\Youtube Stuff\ObeyRC\Sequence\1\cinematicsPre 2_00154.png'. Access was denied.
AEGP Plugin PNGIO Support: Unable to create PNGIO. (5027 :: 12)
After Effects error: cannot close a closed file. (3 :: 5)
11/8/2014 9:35:23 AM: Finished composition “cinematicsPre 2”.
Total Time Elapsed: 25 Seconds
Log closed on 11/8/2014 at 9:35:23 AM

Importing .asf files, blurry in source/sequence monitors and output

I have a large amount of material to work with in .asf form, 480x360 resolution. I'll be outputting to 480x360 as well, so no scaling/zooming needed at all. Problem is, when I import one of those asfs it immediately becomes blurry, i.e. in the source monitor even before I insert it into the sequence and do any modifications. Comparing the imported files to the originals there is a noticeable difference at the exact same dimensions.
I've made sure my sequence settings are at 480x360 resolution. Not sure where else to look on this, any suggestions?
In the past I've done a very similar workflow in PE with no problems, so I'm assuming (hoping??) that there's some easily changed option. Thanks in advance.

Have tried various other permutations in project setup and output - still no luck.
I'm wondering if a clue is the behavior of the program monitor - the clip displays clearly in it until I 'select' the video screen, at which point it blurs just like the output. If I click another area of the screen again, the image resharpens, and so forth. Anyone know what mechanism is causing that?

I'm having a problem with Ultrabeat's sequencer in Mainstage

In Mainstage, I've set up an Ultrabeat instance on the concert level so that I can use it as a metronome for the whole project. (I like to be able to customize the sounds, add subdivisions, make it louder than the default metronome sound, etc.)
However, I'm having a problem. Sometimes, when I try to use it, it doesn't work. Here's what I'm doing to recreate the problem:
In ultrabeat, I create the pattern in the step sequencer, and the sound I want. I have a very simple woodblock sound, and I set the sequence to be only 4 boxes long in Ultrabeat. The sequencer in UB is "on". I created a button on the workspace in Mainstage, and mapped it to UB's "sequencer Play/Stop".
1. When I start the squencer, it runs - i can see the curse in UB moving to the right and repeating - but no sound come through the channel strip
2. When I click the keys on the left side of UB, sound DOES come through the channel strip.
So in essence, UB doesn't want to send sound to Mainstage by using its sequencer.
Has anyone faced anything similar? any ideas on how to fix this? I've done it successfully before, but sometimes it just doesn't work.
thanks,
Keith

For the sake of clarity and to save people time, Todd is asking about the behaviour of the Patch tool when using it to repair the area next to the young lad's head. Todd gets a blurred dark tone pretty much regardless of the options he uses.
IMO that's what I would expect to happen because of the close proximity of the other image elements i.e. the lad's neck and the strong lines of his shirt. I would not choose to use the Patch tool in this situation. Content Aware Fill makes a better stab at it.

4:3 content - blur fill for widescreen

I'm not sure how to search for or intelligent ask the question I am trying to execute in iMovie.
I am working on a home movie "documentary" where some of my content is either a 4:3 video OR a portrait photo. The entire documentary is being edited/produced for a 16:9 widescreen format. The entire project is being done in iMovie.
I would like take the 4:3 content and "blur fill" the area outside the photo or video so that it displays like the example image below. I am not a graphic designer or very technical when it comes to video manipulation so ideally I'd love to find a website or iPad application where the app can change my photos and 4:3 videos so the end result is what you see below.
I've seen ESPN documentaries do the same with video content but I don't have an example of a video with the same result but I think you can understand what I'm asking. Does anyone know what this visual effect is called? Any recommendations on how to tackle this issue using iMovie? Perhaps a work around?
IF I can't do the above I may use a app like PicPlayPost, Clip Stitch or PicFrame to combine multiple 4:3 photos or video so that the end result is a .mov file (in 16:9 widescreen format) laid out in the layout below (and then I import that file into my project).
(edited for clarity)

If you do that you are squashing the image, resulting in fat people and an overall distorted view (circles are no longer round and an item turned from vertical to horizontal will appear to change size. For instance a fishing rod being cast will suddenly get longer). It is very unconventional to shoot 4:3 and then output a 16:9 product unless you're marking the 16:9 safe zone on the viewfinder/monitor and intending to crop to 16:9. In this case you would capture as regular 4:3 and then work in a 16:9 sequence but scale everything up to fill the width of the frame. This is what has essentially been done with last year's dvd, but if you plan for it and shoot accordingly you don't end up with unwanted massive close ups.
Are you going to be working with new material? If so you should ensure that the camera op/director knows that they need to frame for 16:9. If not then anything's going to be a compromise, you either crop or distort, although I'd advise using a combination of the two so that you minimise the unwanted effects of either. You may then want to tweak individual shots up or down to improve framing.

Battling Hardware MPE, Episode 2: Chunky Blurs

Round Two of my hardware acceleration MPE tests...
When using direct export with hardware MPE, any effect that renders a blurred alpha channel (Fast Blur, Gaussian Blur, etc.) creates an extremely ugly/chunky/unusable result. The source footage and sequence does not matter, nor does the destination format. The following examples are of an animated Gaussian Blur (from 0 to something) on a title clip, wiped off with a Gradient Wipe transition (toggle the GradWipe makes no difference). As with my previous thread (Battling Hardware MPE, Episode 1: Cropping on Export), I tested four variations of exporting: with hardware acceleration on and off, and with direct export and sending to the AME queue:
GPU Acceleration off, sent to AME queue:
GPU Acceleration off, direct export:
GPU Acceleration on, sent to AME queue:
GPU Acceleration on, direct export:
So we've got good, good, good, bad. As before, the direct export method using hardware MPE seems to throw a wrench in the works. Any effect that blurs like this (including soft shadows or glows) suffers this ugly banding and harsh falloff. What's curious is that the last example is how the Program Monitor appears while GPU acceleration is enabled; if I disable it, it looks like it does in the first three. What I can't figure out, then, is where hardware MPE is actually at work! Is it in the direct export (bad) or in the queue (same as non-GPU accelerated)? It's not making much sense to me.
Now, I had a chance to have a brief email exchange with one of the engineers regarding a similar issue a few months ago. In response to similar observations and questions, here is his reply:
You are correct that composting with alpha can give different results. This is caused by processing in linear color so that blending is more like natural light. With MPE GPU acceleration, all composting is always done in linear color. This is nothing to do with the hack, but an intentional design decision to never compromise in quality. In software, composting is only done in linear color when rendering at maximum render quality because on the CPU it takes a lot longer. This probably also explains why you occasionally saw this with software. In the monitors we never show anything at maximum quality with unrendered footage. With software you thus need to export with max render quality specified or set max render quality in the sequence settings and render previews. For consistent results when switching between software and GPU acceleration I suggest enabling both max render quality and max bit depth.
Either I'm not understanding this, or it's confirming the bug. I get that hardware acceleration is supposed to enable "linear color processing;" that's fine, if that's better than how it's usually done (whatever that is--I'm not an engineer), but based on what I'm seeing with the hardware direct export, it's WORSE than any software render or encode. Ultimately, I don't care what is technically superior if it looks aesthetically inferior. With the GPU on, a direct export is not usable, and when rendering through the queue, it looks visually no different than when not using the GPU.
So based on the response above, I just did some more tests, this time with the Maximum Render Quality and Maximum Bit Depth options. I did not change the MRQ and MBD settings for the sequence itself--only in the export window--as it is my understanding that those check boxes will enable or disable those features. Using the same example above, I found some interesting results:
So, this would appear to largely bear out what the engineer explained. My observations now:
Hardware acceleration, at least as it pertains to this linear color processing issue, is fundamentally equivalent to Maximum Render Quality in software rendering mode.
Maximum Render Quality does nothing to soften the chunky blurs, shadows or glows. Instead, Maximum Bit Depth must be enabled.
In my initial tests, GPU On + Queue resulted in the same visual effect as GPU Off; in this test, GPU On + Queue resulted in the same effect as GPU On + Export (???)
Setting the Maximum Bit Depth option for your sequence in hardware mode will display smooth blurs with soft falloff in the Program Monitor.
Setting the Maximum Bit Depth and/or the Maximum Render Quality option in software mode has no effect on the Program Monitor display.
Regardless of sequence settings, failure to set either the MRQ or MBD option in the export window will result in those settings not being applied.
Setting either the MRQ or MBD option in the export window will always result in those settings being applied, regardless of sequence settings.
After going through all this, I may be willing to concede that everything is working correctly, more or less. However, my complaint is now, "WHY does this have to as complicated as this?" There are simply too many combinations that have to be set properly to get the desired quality of output, and I firmly believe that this needs to be simplified. When exporting or rendering in hardware/GPU mode, I believe that MRQ and MBD should be on by default; as it is, even with the promise of "linear color processing" with hardware acceleration, I still have to remember to tick another box to make sure that blurs, shadows, and glows don't look like stair steps. The jury is still out on how "good" linear color processing is; maybe I just got used to software rendering of these soft alpha channels, but I'm having difficulty seeing the benefit of more "realistic" light processing at the moment. With hardware acceleration on, you're basically stuck with how those soft elements look; with the hardware acceleration off, I can opt for the more subtle look if I like, even if it means I give up the other presumed benefits of linear color processing. When I design graphics in Photoshop, I expect them to look at least reasonably similar in Premiere; with hardware acceleration on, all bets are off.
I realize this is a new technology and will, hopefully, continue to mature and improve, but I'm hoping that this at least sparks some conversation about this issue. Casual users may not care too much, but anyone using this product for broadcast or other commercial work should be aware of the complications associated with the technology, and should demand that it work consistently and at an expected level of quality. Maybe I'm expecting too much of this, but I certainly hope not.
Your comments are requested and appreciated.

According to your last picture, the one thing consistent with all the problem footage is MRQ. It seems that feature is actually causing the problem.
Correct; that was basically a test to see if what was described by the engineer (namely, enabling MRQ to produce better alpha channel compositing) held true. Well, it's sort of six of one, a half dozen of the other. In essence:
Hardware MPE = Software MPE + Maximum Render Quality = Linear Color Processing
Enabling MRQ in hardware mode does nothing; enabling MRQ in software mode makes software mode act like hardware mode. In either of those scenarios, the alpha channel is composited using linear color, which causes soft shadows, glows, etc. to balloon. Additionally, the soft shadows are banding, due to 8-bit processing. Only by enabling Maximum Bit Depth can the banding be eliminated, but the bulbous glow remains. Setting Maximum Bit Depth alone in software mode has no apparent effect; the alpha channel may not be composited "more realistically" thanks to linear color processing, but it doesn't grow grotesquely or reveal banding, either.
The tests above were conducted with the Gaussian Blur effect within Premiere. I decided to try a test using a Photoshop document; the PSD is a simple text layer with an Outer Glow layer style applied. I tried importing the layer with the layer style as it is, I tried flattening the layer, and I tried merging the layered document on import into Premiere; all resulted in the same effect. The results are more troubling than the examples above, as I use Photoshop for the vast majority of my graphics work for Premiere. Here's the test:
This is text composited against the background video in Photoshop, so that I can see how the glow should be rendered:
Nothing fancy, but the glow has a nice, subtle fall-off. When I import the PSD into Premiere, edit the alpha text layer over the background clip, and render out in software mode, this is the result:
Visually identical to what I created in Photoshop; so far, so good. Now, if I enable MRQ and MBD on export, still in software mode, this is the result:
Um, yuck. Enabling MRQ has had the same ballooning effect as in the tests above, but since the graphic and background video are 8-bit, and I'm not using a 32-bit effect (like the Premiere Gaussian Blur effect), enabling Maximum Bit Depth has no effect. The glow shows banding, and is just downright ugly.
So what happens in hardware accelerated mode? No prizes for guessing correctly:
No combination of Maximum Render Quality or Maximum Bit Depth has any effect in this case; the glow always looks like this in hardware accelerated mode.
This is a HUGE problem, as far as I am concerned. Not only can I not use hardware MPE to export if I want a decent-looking glow, but I can't even use it in the design and build phase because the composited result looks NOTHING like what I'm building in Photoshop. I have a keyboard shortcut set up now to launch the Project Settings panel so I can toggle back and forth between software and hardware mode, so I can at least enjoy some of the acceleration of hardware for general editing, but for detail work and for export, hardware MPE is proving to be an Achilles heel.
This is proving to be really depressing. Until I did these tests, I didn't quite realize the depth of the problem. Granted, no one is forcing me to use hardware acceleration, but am I wrong in calling this a serious flaw?

Blurring in sequence

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