Editing Hi8 on FCP 6 looks bad

I edit mini DV from the Panasonic DVX 100B as my main
format in FCP and the quality and finished product look very good.
Recently I wanted to put together a memorial tape
for a family member that recently passed.
I had Hi-8 footage from 3 chip cameras and Hi-8 consumer
camera footage to work with.
Played back directly to a monitor all the footage looks good
especially the 3 chip stuff.
I used the Sony GV-D200 player with mini DV to firewire
to input the footage to FCP and it all of it looks really bad (like 3rd generation VHS)
Since it looks so bad on the timeline I didn't even want to find
out what it would look like going thrpough Compressor and then
DVD Studio Pro.
Is it the Deck? No TBC ?
My Sony pro deck EVO 9850 with TBC is forever down as you
can't get parts any more.
I thought the Mini DV to firewire would be sufficient.
Any suggestions for getting better results??
I had real good results editing the consumer stuff
with the Immix video cube back in the day.
I was looking forward to editing all my years of Hi8 home
movies with FCP but unless there is a different way to
input the footage to FCP I need to find another way to do it.
Thanks.
Kevin

Sorry have been away.
It is a player recorder so you just drop
the tape in the tape transport.
Thanks,
Kevin
The D200

Similar Messages

  • Why does my 24fps look bad on my TV?

    I just got the Panasonic AG-HMC150. I have shot some footage at both 1080p24 and 720p24. I transcode the files to Pro Res in FCP and they look pretty good, I realize the panning isn't as smooth as 60i. I drag one of the files into the FCP timeline and let it automatically "optimize my settings" for the sequence. I have verified that it is 23.98fps and field dominance is none. I have tried selecting "share" and going straight to AVCHD from FCP, and also taking the original MTS file, and Apple Pro Res and dropping into Toast and trying that way. The footage just looks choppy, jiddery and unsmooth. I have seen enough movies in my life to know that when they pan, or have cars drive by, that movies 24fps looks a million times better. My Sony HDTV even accepts and displays 24fps, and when I press info on the TV remote when watching one of these AVCHD discs it in fact says 1080 (or 720) 24p. It just looks bad. Even taking the HDMI output from the camera and hooking up to the TV and playing from the camera looks lousy.
    What am I doing wrong? I know a ton of post work goes into Hollywood movies, but why does their 24fps look nice and smooth and mine looks horrible? Do I need to render with pulldown in FCP or something. I can't figure it out. Any advice, suggestions?

    I transcode through FCP to apple pro res, the files shows up as 1920x1080 24fps. Field dominance is none. I edit the video and then export as quicktime movie using current settings. The Pro Res file says 23.98 when played in quicktime so I know that's good. I simply then drop the file into Toast (10.0.4) and burn blu-ray disc, selecting DVD as the media. I noticed too I need to change the field dominance under the encoding tab in Toast to progressive, as automatic doesn't work. It only burns the top half of the image. Regardless, when I make these discs and play them on PS3, my TV's info says 1080/24p. Maybe my eyes aren't use to seeing 24fps. Does it sound like I am doing anything wrong in my workflow/encoding process.
    Again, good tip on the shutter speed Jerry.

  • DVD authoring after editing project with FCP X

    FCP X has extremely limited DVD authoring options within it. Can't put more than one short movie on a disc, only two menu templates to choose from, etc. So my question is what do I use to author a DVD after editing projects with FCP X? I know I need to use Compressor to set chapter points, etc., but what do I use to build the DVD menu and burn the DVD? I certainly hope I am not limited to iDVD only, which is not really a pro application, and I gather that DVD Studio Pro is no longer being sold. Amazingly, I asked this question at a One-to-One session at an Apple Store and the guy there suggested Adobe Encore ... I was totally shocked! Does anyone have an answer to all this?

    Encore is very good, but you have to buy PPro to get it, you could look on eBay for a copy of DVDSP. It does look like Apple will not be offering a Pro Level DVD authoring package anymore, it's a shame as DVDSP works very well still and they could have just offered it as a standalone.

  • DV clips look bad, good when converted to H.264 in QuickTime and reimported

    Still a problem after 7.0.1:
    DV camera -> iMovie 08 -> looks bad when playing and exporting/sharing
    DV camera -> iMovie 08 -> "reveal in finder" -> clip opened in QuickTime -> looks good -> export as H.264 -> re-import to iMovie 08 -> looks good when playing and exporting/sharing.
    In plain words: Importing DV clips from my DV camera into iMovie gives bad results when playing and exporting/sharing. Have tried everything, but the clips look blurry and not sharp at all. The actual DV clip in the events folder looks sharp and clear.
    If I take the very same DV clip from the events folder ("reveal in finder"), open it in QuickTime, export it as H.264 and then re-import to iMovie 08, it looks brilliant, retaining the quality the DV clip in the events folder has.
    Why can't the DV clips look good in the first place? What is it that iMovie 08 does to these poor clips? Some have suggested re-encoding, re-rendering and so on, but if I do just that in QuickTime and re-import it to iMovie 08, it still looks razor sharp and crystal clear. No reason that iMovie 08 shouldn't handle the DV file in the same manner.
    Some have suggested that this is because iMovie 08 internally re-encodes to AIM or H.264, enabling edits with different kinds of formats, but if I do this myself in QuickTime before importing to iMovie 08, the problem isn't there!
    If this is difficult to achieve, why not add the option of importing from a DV camera as H.264 and not DV? That would make my day!
    (I have posted this to Apple using the feedback menu item in iMovie 08.)
    (Background here in these threads:)
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1088568
    Sample clips in Apple TV format here:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5173005

    iMovie '08 stores rendered projects in H.264 form. This happens when you render to the Media Browser. The rendered file(s) (you can have several different sizes) are in the iMovie '08 project package. The original flies in your Events folders stay in whatever format they were in.
    Yes, the movies exported to the Media Browser use the H.264 format, the same as iMovie HD 5/6 did when we exported using the presets Email, Web, Web Streaming and CD-ROM. They were all H.264 too. Apple is obviously putting the (powerful) H.264 to good use to prepare movies for Web pages and other purposes.
    As you know, the Full Quality export in 5/6 was to the project's native format, which varied according to the type of project. For DV projects, that was DV video. Everything was converted to DV when imported into the project, and to preserve the original quality we could export to a Full Quality DV movie.
    There is nothing like that in iMovie 7, at least that I've seen. As you said, nothing is converted to a "native format" when imported to the project. (Still images are added to the project's single Apple Photo - JPEG "Still Images" movie, which is a nice twist.)
    So I think of iMovie 7 as having no "native" format, but a nicely-designed path for using H.264 as the delivery format. The Media Browser — a virtual library of movies with no shared place — is a nice invention.
    When I export slideshow movies in DV format out of FotoMagico I always select 'Best' and it DOES make a difference in iDVD.
    I think of iMovie 7's problem with DV as more profoundly flawed. Exporting ANY DV video that's in the project to DV or ANY OTHER format is messed up. It's the handling of the DV inside iMovie that's messed up, not just the export to DV.
    My guess is — and it's only a guess — that FotoMagico's Best setting adjusts the content of the image delivered for iDVD. Put another way, it prepares an image that works best with iDVD's own encoding algorithms.
    One long-standing diappointment I've had with iLife is that Apple has never coordinated the image it prepares for iDVD with what(ever) iDVD does best. It's as if the programmers never talk to each other. iMovie engineers have never asked the iDVD engineers how best to deliver the image to deliver the best quality on the DVD.
    Given Apple's emphasis on H.264, one would think that iDVD would be written to embrace any H.264 video and deliver great quality on the DVD. It doesn't. And with iLife '08 it doesn't even embrace iMovie's own DV exports!
    I suppose Blu-Ray will change all that, but for now we're stuck with a version of iLife that can't deliver a quality DVD of our home movies.
    Karl

  • Imported Illustrator type looks bad in Premiere.

    I'm making title cards in Adobe Illustrator CS 4 and importing them into Premiere CS 4. When I render the movie, the type looks like crap. Is there something I can do in Illustrator or Premiere to improve the quality?
    Thanks in advance for the help.
    Jody Radzik

    I use AI quite a bit for the creation of all sorts of Shapes in PS to be used in Pr. In PS, I always use these in an image set up to match my Pr Project, i.e. NTSC 720x480 PAR 0.9. These always look very good, when I Import them as .PSD's into Pr.
    Exactly what workflow have you used between AI, PS and Pr? What are your Pr Project settings, and what are your image dimensions in PS? Can you attach an example of what is looking bad with your PS image containing AI material? Hint: you'll need to do a Save_As JPEG, but do keep the compression down (higher quality # in PS), and then use the little "camera" icon in the middle of the forum editing screen, NOT the Attach Files dialog box at the bottom.
    Good luck,
    Hunt

  • Newbie: Going from XDCAM HD to SD looks bad

    Hi, everyone! I'm fresh to the world of video editing, and I'm having a blast. So much to learn, man I wish I'd picked this up 20 years ago. Enough about me...
    We're shooting HD footage using a Sony XDCAM (the one that uses those little SxS cards...pretty slick), and dumping the footage stright into FCP. The problem is that we're producing this for a program that runs on a local cable channel, which does not broadcast in HD. So, we have to downconvert our 1080 footage to DV NTSC (I hope I'm using the correct terminology here) for the show.
    I'm ok with the footage looking grainy and pixelated when I watch it at home during the broadcast, since I guess that's what happens when you shoot HD for an SD show. My question, however, is this: Even when I'm editing in FCP and looking at our broadcast monitor, the footage still doesn't look that sharp. I really would think that 1080 footage should look better while I'm editing. Can you think of any reasons why the editing portion is looking like this? Is it some kind of project setting maybe? Have I provided enough info so far for an answer?
    Thanks for any help. Great to be here!

    First things first: Are you sure the broadcaster wants DV? DV is a pretty low-quality codec, and lots of television engineers consider it to be right on the very edge of being broadcast-quality. Is it possible your broadcaster wants DVCPRO50 or something like that instead?
    What's your workflow like? At what point in the process do you scale the footage down? Do you just drop your footage into an NTSC timeline and let Final Cut do the downscaling?
    You can almost certainly get better results by editing in the native format, onto an XDCAM timeline, with ProRes rendering turned on. When you're done, export a QuickTime reference movie, take that into Compressor, and have Compressor convert the finished show to whatever output format you want, +with frame controls turned on.+ This will give you a much better-looking downconversion than just letting Final Cut do the work. Plus, it ensures that your finished masters are full-resolution, which will make it easier for you to go back to them later for use in HD broadcasting, or delivering HD over the Internet or on disc.

  • H.264 Looks Bad on DVD

    I have some vidoes that I got from the internet that are in H.264. When I watch it on the computer and preview it in iDVD it looks great, but when I watch it on the DVD it looks terrible. I have already tried converting it to dv and MPEG-4. Does anybody have any suggestions?

    When I was editing, I pulled the DV footage into an HDV sequence. I exported the file in Apple ProRes 422. Once I did that, I brought it into Compressor and compressed it using DVD: Best Quality 150 minutes (since it was going to run slightly over 120 min.). Specifically, it compressed to mpeg-2 and dolby digital professional 2.0. Both sources were the same frame rate.
    What's puzzling me is that it looked bad on my tv but just fine on my friends HD tv. Hope some of this info helps in troubleshooting my issue.
    Thanks.

  • Video looks bad

    Ok, I am currently using FC: Express, but I don't see an express forums anywhere so I though I'd post it here. I would like to know how I can keep the original quality video I am done editing it in FC. Ususally when I am done and export it, the quality looks bad, really bad.
    All I am doing right now is adding a title/credit created from Live Type and adding music to the FC project I have. The original .avi file I have is crystal cleaer at 1576x986 resolution.
    Any help would be great

    Hey,
    The Final Cut Express forums are here: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=936
    Because there's so many variables at play in your question, and I've not got much experience, I can't really answer your main question, though.
    Matt
    Yoga Maya Films - www.yogamayafilms.com
    The Film Producer's Podcast - www.yogamayafilms.com/podcast

  • BATCH CAPTURE TAPELESS workflow still FCP is looking for a capture device when going ONLINE

    Hi,
    I am working on a documentary and about to go online with my edit.
    I used Sony FS100. Tapeless. I did Log and Transfer to ProRes 422 in FCP 7.
    Later when I run out of space I used Media Manager to RECOMPRESS everything to ProRes Proxi. Worked well.
    But now when I try to batch capture to ProRes 422 FCP is looking for a capture device thinking I am working with tapes.
    How do I make FCP undrerstand I am tapeless? Does the recompress kill the possibility of bach capturing back to online full quality 422?
    Thanks for the support!
    Gabor

    I have read through some more forums and I only found one mention of the Media Manager 'Recomress' function.
    It said:
    "Transcoding with MM (recompress). It preserves timecode/reel name, file names, etc... Except the clip ID, which is used along with reel name and timecode to batch capture from source files (at least for P2)."
    Clip ID is the metadata relyable for the work of batch capture. It seems without it it is impossible to batch capture.
    I wonder why they designed Recompress like that, if it is true?

  • I am using both PSE 13 and Lightroom 5.  When I use Lightroom as an external editor and save the photo, it shows up in PSE13 as an edited file but does not look any different.  Why doesn't it appear edited?

    I am using both PSE 13 and Lightroom 5.  When I use Lightroom as an external editor and save the photo, it shows up in PSE13 as an edited file but does not look any different.  Why doesn't it appear edited?

    People who have Photoshop, but don't have Lightroom, need ACR so that they can use Raw files. Without ACR they could do nothing with those (they may also like having ACR so that they can work on other kinds of image using the same kinds of adjustments and techniques, as are used with Raw files).
    People who have Lightroom, can get access to Raw files regardless whether ACR is present or not. They can use Lightroom on other kinds of image also, using the same methods. LR can pass images directly into Photoshop without passing via ACR (or else does so transparently, which amounts to substantially the same thing).
    ACR does not, strictly speaking, even need to be installed for this external editing to happen. In fact, not even PS needs to be - since a different image editor can be used instead, while still retaining the Adobe Raw conversion etc.
    Lightroom "subcontracts out" specialised external tasks, in this workflow, but is still your "main contractor": the image is otherwise located, viewed, managed, adjusted/presented and output entirely using LR.
    So IMO we can divide image processing into:
    operations that involve pixels and layers and layer masks and adjustment layers etc (of the kind done inside Photoshop)
    operations that involve parametric edits (of the kind done in ACR where you are not using a Lightroom based workflow; otherwise, done inside Lightroom)
    When PS is called in, that's because those tasks are impossible or unsuitable to do in Lightroom. But those tasks can't be done in ACR either - by definition, since LR and ACR have exactly the same image processing "feature set".
    Lightroom is irrelevant to the Bridge + ACR + PS workflow. This workflow requires both your PS and your ACR to be current enough, to support your Raw format etc.
    ACR and Bridge are irrelevant to the LR + (image editor) workflow. It is in this case, only LR which needs to be current enough to support your Raw format etc.
    RP

  • Subject : Slideshow looks bad  Hello guys  I have a project in my Final Cut just about done.  I want to add my slideshow as part of the project and burn it to DVD.  In my slideshow, there are some stills from the movie clips and some downloaded from the i

    Subject : Slideshow looks bad
    Hello guys
    I have a project in my Final Cut just about done.  I want to add my slideshow as part ofthe project and burn it to DVD.  Inmy slideshow, there are some stills from the movie clips and some downloadedfrom the internet but they all look blur when playback and even worse if Iapply Ken Burn to it.   Pleasesome one can tell my how to do it right or it can’t be done because thedownload quality and stills from the clip are not suitable or slideshow.  Thank you
    PSC

    Thank you Ross.
    The entire DVD containing Quick Time movies (Final CutExpress project) and slideshow was done in iPhoto.  The Final Cut project was rendered prior to export to QT,  the slideshow was sent to iDVD withoutrendering. The slideshow with most of the pictures from my still camera incombination with stills from movie clips and some downloaded from the Internet.After burning, the movie playback is perfect but the slideshow is not.  The slideshow containing 3 differentkinds of pictures; those from my still camera looks OK; the stills from themovie clips and from the Internet are not.  I don’t have much knowledge in this game, but I think NTSCwith frame size 720x480, and the downloaded picture Item Property shows most ofthem are between 400 to 500 x 300 to 600, may be both of them are not suitablefor TV screen while the stills from my still camera looks OK because they are2048x1536.  Please enlightenme.  Once again, thank you so much,I really appreciate the time you offered.
    psc

  • Fonts look bad in OSX jagged text

    Hello
    I thought apple gave us font smoothing in OSX! My fonts look terrible in QuarkXpress6.0. Is this what I have to look forward to? I miss my ATM.
    I did the "font smoothing thing" in appearence-no change.
    Also will all my older fonts from when I used OS 7 +8, will these still work in OSX? and by Quark XPress?
    Please enlighten me!
    all fonts look bad; Goudy old style, bellvue etc. (postscript type 1)
    imac G5   Mac OS X (10.4.4)   21" screen

    if I zoom out in Quark to view document at say 125% the 45 pt type really looks bad
    Hmm. I'm unable to duplicate your problem. I've pasted some random text into Quark, sized it to 45 pt and set the zoom to 125%. No matter if I go up or down, the fonts look very smooth with both Goudy Old Style and News Gothic (I have the Adobe version, not MT, which is from MonoType). Well, if I look real close, I can see a little bit of jaggies around curves. But nothing very noticable.
    Is your 21" monitor a CRT or LCD? LCD always produce the best image when used at their native resolution. A CRT's best display varies depending on whether it has a shadow mask or aperture grill tube. If your monitor has an independent control for sharpening, it may be too high.
    I have some fonts installed that I don't know where they came from ex: News Gothic MT (Microsoft I think) Will these view and print okay in any program?
    As long as it's a standard Mac suitcase style TrueType font, or a complete and proper Type 1 PostScript font, it should just as well as any other.
    I keep all my fonts in classic folder and manage w/font book (thats another story) It seems that my classic apps, Illustrator, see most of the fonts all the time eventhough I turned many off in fontbook. Also illustrator doesn't see ALL the fonts.
    That's a handful. When it comes to Classic, the rules are a little different. Fonts you manually place into the OS 9 Fonts folder, or are put there by the OS when activating them from Font Book with OS 9 as the choice to be activated for, fonts are then available to both Classic and OS X.
    If you deactivate them in Font Book, the fonts will become unavailable to OS X apps. However, any Classic apps will continue to see them until you shut down all OS 9 applications and Classic. In other words, once you open fonts for Classic, they can't be closed to Classic without shutting the entire environment down. Confused yet?
    As far as Illustrator not seeing all the fonts, that relates to this part of your question:
    Please explain the limitations of classic apps and fonts.
    Classic can use any fonts that were in existence for the Mac before OS X. All of your older Mac TrueType and Type 1 PostScript fonts will work in OS X and Classic. Fonts that will work as is in OS X that you couldn't use before on a Mac are PC TrueType fonts. If you have copied any of the OS X .dfonts into the OS 9 Fonts folder, those will not work. A .dfont is a variation of a TrueType font, with the data in the data fork rather than the resource fork as they are with the older Mac TrueType fonts. Neither OS 9 or any Classic apps can read these fonts. Those are likely the ones not showing up in Illustrator.
    It sounds like you do a lot of work with fonts. While Apple has improved Font Book quite a bit in Tiger, it's still very much a consumer font manager for those who handle fonts only occasionally. You'd be much better off using a font manager such as Suitcase X1 or Font Agent Pro.

  • Is split screen editing possible in FCP X?

    Is split screen editing possible in FCP X?
    Many thanks!
    KJ

    mk,
    I just searched the FCPX manual in pdf and there is no mention of side by side or picture in picture. So I created it in iMovie and brought into FCPX and got the inspector info. Guess what, it is now called Crop and Transform. And it works very well. You could have any size video in the frame anywhere you wanted it to be. With key frames you could fly them around, I think.
    Hope this helps. I was counting on being able to do this with synced music video takes.
    David

  • Custom white balance looks bad/off when set on the 5d Mark iii

    I got my Mark iii in June and every time I set a custom white balance it doesn't look right. I have used both a purchased grey card and a white piece of paper, both look bad. When I set it on my Rebel Xs it looks perfect, no adjustments needed in post processing, but not the case with the Mark iii. Shouldn't it be the other way around, considering the price tag on the iii ?

    Canon "tags" RAW images with meta-data regarding white balance (and other info) but does not actually alter the image. Depending on what you use to process the images on the computer, it can read those tags and decide to apply it's interpretation. But those white balance adjustments would be applied by your computer software (assuming they are being applied -- not all software does this) -- and not by the camera.
    I use Aperture (Apple's pro photography software), which has a camera profile for each camera. The profiles can compensate if, for example, one camera is naturally "cooler" than another.
    Tim Campbell
    5D II, 5D III, 60Da

  • Graphics look bad on pause at end of chapters

    I've created a presentation in Keynote that I've exported as a QT movie and imported into DVDSP. Since the presentation will be manually advanced via remote control, I've set infinite pauses at the start of each chapter. My problem is that when the pause occurs, the still graphics look really bad. I realize this probably has more to do with the DVD player itself but I was wondering if anyone has found a work-around for this issue. Thanks in advance.
      Mac OS X (10.4.4)  

    Thanks EJP. I need to keep the transition effects though from Keynote so still images won't work. One thing that is kind of weird though it that the still frame at the end of a track looks fine. Its only the pauses at the chapter markers that the video looks bad.

Maybe you are looking for