Exporting Quality Issue

I've read on here that I should export using the Export To Quicktime option if planning to burn to DVD. But Exporting To Quicktime gives a really bad final quality. I get much better quality by using the Quicktime Conversion mode. But, of course, it takes a lot longer. Is something not set up correctly for me to get inferior quality by exporting to quicktime?
I'm using FCE 4.

Give exact details of the format of the video and also exactly how you are capturing it, editing and exporting to QT.
Is it HDV, DV, AVCHD or something else?
What do you mean by bad quality? ...... Blurred, grainy, juddering etc.?
Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

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Preview Monitor and Exporting Quality Issues

Hello, in a previous life I was a video editor from the world of Avid and I just picked up Premiere for an emergency side mission at my current place of employment and I have run into a couple issues with CS4.
1. The preview monitor for the Sequence displays a lower quality of the video that comes from the uploaded Clip and it also does not play back at a steady frame rate. However, when I look at the Clip in the secondary preview monitor that is reserved for clips, titles, etc, the video quality is as high as what is expected. How do get the sequence monitor to playback at the quality the clips are uploaded as and how do I get the playback to do so at a steady 30fps?
2. My exporting experience was based around dubbing directly to Beta tapes and I never really had to do any digital file exporting. I need some tips on what to export a Sequence as that will retain a high amount of the quality while also keeping the file size to what will fit on a disk. The video length in this case would never be more than 5 minutes as I am only working on sales videos. Also, the file needs to be playable in Windows Media Player.
Thank you in advance for any help on these issues.

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Lightroom's Slideshow Module export quality issue

When I export a slide show, the resulting quality of the photos in the pdf is much below that of the photos I see in the Library module. There is a high degree of aliasing (jagged edges) and if I export the slide show at less than 100% quality or at a screen size smaller than my client's, the pixelization renders the slide show useless.
I am using a Mac with the latest OS with a 256mb video card, 2GB RAM, and plenty of harddrive space.
I have confirmed with two other experienced photographers that this is also happening with them.
I have resorted to using Fotomagico as a slideshow software vs. Lightroom for the results from Lightroom are too unprofessional to show my clients.

Pat,
I just checked my slideshow output and it looks good. I can only suggest [and you probably have tried all of these: 1] Make sure your photos look good to start, high res etc. 2] make sure you have the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader [8 I believe] 3] restart LR [I hesitate to even say this]
Beyond that I don't have much to offer.
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Mel

Iphoto export quality issues

I notice when I'm working in iphoto lately. When I export photos, no matter how I do it the photos come out with much lower quality as what they are in iphoto.
Example
http://i.imgur.com/XD2Ey.jpg
Photo on the left is the original. The photo in the middle is my work in iphoto and the photo on the right is what is exported.
I never use to have this problem... Anyone with an idea?
Thank you

The orig. file on the left is RAW.
I've just done some editing in the adjust section to the photo (The pic in the middle of the example above) to how I want it.
Export the photo Max quality, full size.
The exported photo looks like much of the agustments I've done in iphoto are missing (eg:Sharpness & Definition).
I just want my photos exported to match what they look like in iphoto with my adjusments.
Thank you for your help

Export quality issues

When I export from Lightroom 4 my image quality changes dramatically between the Lightroom image and the exported image. I have my export settings at 1500x1500 and 240 pixels per inch. Any ideas on how I can keep the exported image the same as the one in lightroom

I don't know if you can see the difference between the two, where I really saw it was when I opened the exported image on a larger PC screen. I do my editing on a Mac screen, but when I opened the picture on the larger screen it was very grainy in the front person's face and you could see where I used the brush around his head, which you can't see in either of these images. Here are my other settings

Quality Issues on Export

I'm having a heck of a time with this. I'm shooting with a Sanyo Xacti, whose native format is MP4 burned to an SD card. Since FCE won't handle these files directly, I'm transcoding to DVCPRO50 with MPEG Streamclip.
I bring these into FCE and everything works fine. But the export quality out of FCE is pretty awful, no matter what I do. I've tried about all the export options in all sizes. None of them are even close to the orginal MP4 quality. (They're shot in 640X480SHQ
If played in QuickTime, the DVCPRO conversions look terrific. iMovie seems to do a better job with these files.
Any suggestions?
Paul

Unfortunately, your example is still queued.
edit_
Format: MPEG2
Range: Entire Sequence
Preset: custom
Now, my question: is this your Project Preset, or more likely your Export setting? It appears that you are using the AVI (uncompressed from AE) as your source material. Is this correct? What is the Field Dominance of your Imported AVI? What is the Field Dominance of your Exported MPEG-2?
Your issue sounds like a Field Dominance/Order problem. Per the other question, you are in PAL-land, right?
If needed, you can run all files through G-Spot to get info on their Field Dominance/Order. This would be the first thing that I would look into. If you have, and all is fine, then ignore my comments. We'll just wait until your example makes it out of queue.
Good luck,
Hunt

Quality Issues

Hey -
So I have iMovie 09 and then found out it has really crappy quality issues. So I came to iMovie 06 to start working with stuff. I decided to try putting in 4 photos and sharing them with iDVD to test it out. I haven't actually burned them but the preview of iDVD and in iMovie makes the photos look a lot more crappy than they actually are. I'm able to make those photos full screen 1440x900 without really having pixelated features. Yet, iDVD when it's just taking up a minimal amount of the screen has all the pictures pixelated (along with iMovie)
I have iMovie set to the highest quality, iDVD set to professional quality, rendered all the pictures in iMovie before exporting, and have the frame rate at 30 fps.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

"rendered all the pictures in iMovie before exporting"
That's likely the problem. iMovie does a terrible job of rendering. So, if you use the share function, ignore the prompt that asks if you want iMovie to render, and instead chose to proceed anyway without rendering. iDVD then will render your photos and it does a much better job of it.
Also, the previews in iMovie and iDVD are low res. The burned project should be much sharper.
Rather than using the share function, I find it best to simply save and close the iMovie project, and then drag the iMovie icon (the one with the star on it) into the edge of the window of your iDVD project main menu, being careful not to put into a drop zone. The movie or slideshow will then import right in to iDVD.

Why is export quality HORRIBLE? FCP 7.3

Why can't I export a .mov quicktime movie from FCP 7.3 that looks EXACTLY like the image I get when playing the footage in the timeline?
These are my 2 biggest quality issues that I can't find a way to surmount:
1. Interlacing. Yes, I shot interlaced - bad idea, never will do it again. But in FCP, viewed at full screen, the footage is beautiful - no interlacing artifact at all. Once exported, it looks horrible. Please no comments about "just choose 'deinterlace' when exporting." This seems to horribly degrade the quality (see below) and it doesn't deinterlace it anyway at the same resolution as I'm viewing it in FCP - you have to scale the quality down from 1080i to 720p before the interlace artifact in the exported file is gone. And even then, the quality is much worse than 720p should be (see below).
2. Saturation/bit depth/color quality: Once exported - no matter what quality I choose and no matter whether I check 'deinterlace' or not - the color goes down the drain once exported. It looks pathetic. Oversaturating the image before exporting in hopes of a correct saturation by the time it's exported does not work. The image is simply very, very washed out once exported.
Bottom line: If the footage looks beautiful IN final cut, viewed at full screen, we KNOW it can look beautiful OUT of final cut, viewed on the same screen. How is this accomplished?
A few technical details:
Footage specs:
Shot in 59.94i, 1080
AVCHD
.MTS
Imported RAW into FCP using Log and Transfer.
Once ingested into FCP (using default ingest settings):
29.97i
1920x1080
Upper (odd) field dominance
Square pixel aspect ratio
Apple prores 422
Export specs:
Compressor: H.264
Frame rate: Current
Keyframes: Automatic
Data Rate: Automatic
Frame recording: Unchecked
Quality: Best (multipass)
Encoding: Best quality
Export size settings:
I have tried all of the following settings, each with 'deinterlace' checked AND unchecked, respectively. And each with bad results:
1920x1080
1600x900
1280x720
and other sizes of 16:9
Any ideas on this is HUGELY appreciated.

Thanks for all the great input everyone.
To your questions:
Jason: I'm using QT 7.7.
Michael: Very helpful thoughts. I did export using quicktime instead of QT conversion and it looks identical - no problem....when viewing the exported file with FCP. When viewing it with QT 7.7, with the settings suggested by David, it's the same old crap I've been gettng all along. I"m new to Compressor and I'm using version 3.5. Can you advise a specific workflow for using Compressor here? As far as customizing QT for FCP color, I assume you mean the option in the Preferences 'Enable final cut studio color compatibility'. This is the only setting I see of relevance...
Russ - Final cut pro DOES accurately show image quality. At full screen view, my footage looks great in FCP. If it can look greatin FCP, it should be able to look great OUT of FCP. The question is just how to use the best compression setting to get the export file size down without sacrificing all that quality.... I'm judging by the monitor because I'm shooting for monitor end-viewership, not TV.
Bottom line - sounds like Compressor is the way to go. If someone could give me some pointers on Compressor workflow with this situation, that would bed awesome. I've never used the program before - 'export using QT conversion' in FCP has always been sufficient up until now.
Many, many thanks!

Image quality issues in PS - word to PDF

Hi,
I am having major image quality issues when trying to make my word document a clean, clear PDF. Images become distorted. Borders for tables and text that are equal px size look like they are different sizes throughout the document.
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Word 2007 - Changed image %, image size, export options, adjusted px for borders, used different styles
Acrobat 9 Pro - Changed import settings, import options, print options, tried press quality, high quality, etc.
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What can I do to get a clean, clear PDF file with the images and borders preserved?
Thank you.

In converting a MS Office file to PDF, Photoshop cannot help in any way and will likely cause more harm as it may rasterize vector data. Expect your ideal answer in the Acrobat forum.

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Hi,
I'm a long term user of PE v9 (basic editing & burning of home vids & slideshows), but I've just bought a new computer & upgraded to Photoshop & PE v11.
The first slideshow I created (created in Photoshop & exported to PE for adding music, titles etc) had a lot of issues:
Some of the photos were rotated 90 degrees & stretched (which I noticed & cut out prior to burning), but more importantly,
The end product once burned to DVD is of terrible quality.
I seem to recall that when I first set up PE 9 I set a project quality standard that all future projects would follow unless I changed it. I've looked everywhere in PE 11 & I can't find where this is set. I'm not overly technical and I'm out of ideas re: where to look to fix these quality issues.
Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Cozzie.

Hi Apple Miga,
I've spent literally hours on this trying all sorts of combinations of settings and ways & means of initiating a slideshow. To my surprise & absolute elation, I finally had a partial win late last night. I finally got the quality of the slides to be as good as I've been getting for years with PrE v7. I haven't been able to work out the rotation & stretching of some photos yet, but I'm at least I've got good quality on the photos that didn't rotate (which is the bulk of them).
Here's what I did, triggered by a comment above by VDOSurfer (thankyou VDOSurfer). I had actually already tried setting the project settings to DV-PAL (instead of AVCHD-PAL which I'd been using successfully with PrE v7) a couple of times with the same poor results, but I tried it again in a different order as follows:
Open PrE11.
Select 'New Project' (ie not existing project)
Once the new project opens up, select File, New Project (from the file menu at the top of the screen)
Click on 'Change Settings' at the bottom of the dialog box. I noticed here that my settings were always defaulting to NTSC/AVCHD 1080p60. So I changed this to PAL/DV Widescreen 48kHz (I live in Australia, so if you're in the US, I guess you'd select NTSC/DV Widescreen 48kHz).
Click on the checkbox 'Force selected project settings on this project'.
Click on Add Media
I added my slideshow from Photoshop because I'd already prepared it in that product, but you should be able to add it from wherever your photos live.
Click on Publish+Share, select DVD & Disk, ensure PAL_DOLBY_Widescreen DVD is selected. (If you're in the US, this would be NTSC).
Burn as normal.
This worked very well for me. Hope it helps. Please let me know how you go.
If anyone has any thoughts on how to stop the random rotation & stretching, I'd love to hear. Note that photos that are rotated & stretched start off in the correct rotation in Photoshop Elements v11 prior to exporting to PrE 11.
Thanks,
Cozzie.

Quality issues with IDVD solved

Hi All
RE. Best looking IDVD playback.
May this help all those stuggling with quality issues with perfect looking Qtime files encoded by IDVD coming out looking crap.
Simply this: instead of exporting your media from your FCP timeline in H.264 - instead select Motion JPEG A. This is found under your setting options in your Qtime movie/settings export window.
Your files will export much, much faster than Apple's default setting of H.264, you will also get very smooth playback wihtout any jaggies or nasty artifacts. Files are a larger but, hey, it just looks great.
Let me know if this works for you - it took me ages to figure this out!
Best regards
PostGuy40
Imac 2.16Ghz intel dual core Mac OS X (10.4.8) 17"

Good info. I'll keep this in mind next time.

Image Quality issue with script

So I recently wrote a simple script to output an image at a bunch of different resolutions. However, I am running into an image quality issue that I don't run into when I do the same thing manually.
Here is an example image showcasing the image: http://terminalvelocity.ca/temp/notworking.jpg
As you can see along the top of the model's forhead there is destinct color fragmentation. Which seems very strange.
Here is the script, it is pretty simple, it asks for a few simple config options. (the above image was created using default settings). It then figures out the correct ratios and loops through doing each resize, saving the image, then reverting the history so each iteration uses the original image data and not the resized version:
doc = app.activeDocument;
openFilePath = Folder.selectDialog ("Where do you want the images to be saved?");
maxSize = Number(prompt("What would you like to be the maximum length of the long edge? (Image is never upsized) (pixels)", 2800));
minSize = Number(prompt("What would you like to be the minimum length of the long edge? (pixels)", 100));
gap = Number(prompt("How much smaller should each image be? (pixels)", 100));
quality = Number(prompt("What quality would you like the JPG exported as (0-12)", 10));
var size;
var primary;
var secondary;
if(doc.width > doc.height){
          primary = doc.width;
          secondary = doc.height;
}else{
          primary = doc.height;
          secondary = doc.width;
var ratio = secondary/primary;
var size = [];
for(var i = maxSize;i>minSize;i-=gap){
          var p = i
          var s = i * ratio;
          size.push([p,s]);
var w;
var h;
var n;
for(var i in size){
          if(doc.width > doc.height){
                    w = n = size[i][0];
                    h = size[i][1];
          }else{
                    w = size[i][1];
                    n= h = size[i][0];
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                    jpgSaveOptions.quality = quality
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In comparison, here is an example of an image of the exact same resolution that does not exhibit this issue at all:
The steps taken to save this image were as follows: http://photography.terminalvelocity.ca/content/images/2012/avery_konrad_6/horizontal/1500. jpg
Image > Resize > Bicubic Sharper (1500px);
Save For Web
     Jpeg
     Quality 75
     Optimzed: true
     Progressive: false
     Blur: 0
     Convert to sRGB: true
Anyway, as you can see, The manually exported image does not have any of the quality issues that are present within the scripted image. I am pretty new to photoshop scriping so am assuming it has something to do with me missing some sort of option in the save settings. Any help would be swell.
Also note, this doesn't occur on all images, I usually don't see an issue when using the script, however, something about the tones of this particular photo make it really obvious.
I am using the latest version of Photoshop CS6 (creative cloud) on Max OSX
thanks so much!

I'm on windows find the bicubicsharper does not work well it the image being resized has been highly sharpened all ready. Because of my Photoshop preferences I had to make minor modification to your script. I'm also a bit colorblind so i don't see many color issues so I include a screen capture if what windows does with your image and script.
var orig_ruler_units = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;          // Set the ruler units to PIXELS
doc = app.activeDocument;
openFilePath = Folder.selectDialog ("Where do you want the images to be saved?");
maxSize = Number(prompt("What would you like to be the maximum length of the long edge? (Image is never upsized) (pixels)", 2800));
minSize = Number(prompt("What would you like to be the minimum length of the long edge? (pixels)", 100));
gap = Number(prompt("How much smaller should each image be? (pixels)", 100));
quality = Number(prompt("What quality would you like the JPG exported as (0-12)", 10));
var size;
var primary;
var secondary;
if(doc.width > doc.height){
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          secondary = doc.height;
}else{
          primary = doc.height;
          secondary = doc.width;
var ratio = secondary/primary;
var size = [];
for(var i = maxSize;i>minSize;i-=gap){
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          var s = i * ratio;
          size.push([p,s]);
var w;
var h;
var n;
for(var i in size){
          if(doc.width > doc.height){
                    w = n = size[i][0];
                    h = size[i][1];
          }else{
                    w = size[i][1];
                    n= h = size[i][0];
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Bizarre Lightroom image quality issue

I have a weird image quality issue with Lightroom, when opening RAW files (haven't tried it with any other file format, admittedly).
Here's an example of how the image appears in Lightroom. As an experiment, I exported the image as a TIFF and opened it in Gimp to see if it was just down to a display issue, but the exported TIFF showed the same quality issues as Lightroom. Aside from exporting as a TIFF (and then saving as a Jpeg), this image is SOOC:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/swisstony10/4912360565/" title="IMG_4134 by swisstony10, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4912360565_5891c0160f.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_4134" /></a>
If I open the same image in Canon's own DPP software, this image quality issue does not occur, so I know that it's not an issue with the memory card, the camera, or my laptop's monitor. The SOOC image from DPP (exported as a Jpeg) looks like this:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/swisstony10/4912362053/" title="IMG_4134b by swisstony10, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4116/4912362053_1ca92078c9.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_4134b" /></a>
Has anybody else experienced this, and if so, is there a fix? (there had better be - I'm not going to be overly chuffed if my expensive Adobe software is being outperformed by the free stuff.. )
Russ.

This is proving to be an extremely helpful forum!
Thanks for the advice on embedding my calibrated colour space - I don't very often send files anywhere other than my own home network (where all the monitors are calibrated), and when I do upload any to Flickr, it's never caused a problem in the past (and if I get anything printed by a lab, I use their ICC profile). I'll definitely keep that all in mind though..
Here's the original RAW file of the image I used as the example https://www.yousendit.com/download/aHlUa3ZONmNFd2Z2Wmc9PQ - I hope that helps someone to shed some light on what's going wrong. From what you've said though, it does look as if this is just an extreme example of something that Lightroom isn't very good at doing.
As I said in my original post, it'll be a bit disappointing if that's the case though, because a fair amount of the pictures I take tend to be of bands playing in what are, let's face it, diabolical conditions for photography. (At the festival I was attending at the weekend for example, all of the photographers - even the seasoned pros - were moaning about how awful the lighting was in the Big Top, and how much it sucked to try and get a decent picture there, as opposed to the main stage where everybody wasn't completely backlit by either red or purple lights. I appreciate that Lightroom is a much more powerful tool than Canon's DPP - the noise reduction controls on their own completely rock - but I must admit I'm a bit surprised that it can't handle highlights terribly well...

Nef Quality Issue

(moved from Photoshop forum)
I really want to use Photoshop ACR to import my Nef files, but I seem to be running in to a quality issue.
When I look at the photo i've imported in to Photoshop CS4 with the version of ACR (5.3) against Capture NX 2, it doesnt look anywhere near as sharp.
If you look at the attached file you can see what I mean - on the left is the preview in photoshop CS4 (ACR Window) & on the right is NX 2.
I would add that NX 2 isnt doing any sharpening or amending - i've turned it all off. In addition I also add that when I look at the file using View NX it looks as sharp as it does in NX 2, & that doesnt do any sharpening either.
I would say that even at the highest level of Sharpening in ACR, it doesnt look as good as NX 2. I did try the demo of Bibble & that was better - but I find it hard to believe that ACR is worse than either of these two & I'm sure I must be doing something wrong.
In ACR I have it set to as shot in basic (and it doesnt alter if I take the Preview off), so it doesnt look like it's a setting that's degrading the quality.
This means i'm forced to use NX 2 to export to Tiff, & then open in Photoshop, which is a pain.
btw - I have to say the NX 2 interface sucks! Hence my reasoning to use ACR, which I am so used to.
Any help would be appreciated.

Bill I see no obvious difference between the two images you posted, but if I had to make a guess then I would say that the rightmost image may be the Nikon processed one. Too close to call though. If mine were that close I couldn't possibly have an issue.
However, mine aren't anywhere near that close. Hopefully you will see why I consider this to be an issue.
The colour differences I am not concerened about, but the difference in the level of detail, I am.
Have a look at the examples at these links.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30207556@N03/3865233390/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30207556@N03/3864450905/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30207556@N03/3865233750/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30207556@N03/3865374872/
All are 100% crops of the same image.
The first in each sequence I imported into lightroom with my standard settings.
The second with the D3 Camera Standard profile
The third is exported directly from View NX with no.
All sharpening turned set to 0 in both programmes.
All images increased in exposure by 0.3
None are colour corrected after import or altered in any other way, so there will be differences in colour which I am not concerned with.
The first sequence (Unsharpened) shows a portion of an image, showing the Grooms father during a church reading.
Notice the texture of the jacket.
The second sequence (Unsharpened-2) is a different view of the same image and shows the carved eagle.
Notice the increased detail in the carving.
The third sequence (Basic-Sharpened) is a sharpened version of the same shot.
View NX set to 2 sharpen out of 10.
LR set to 50 0.8 35.
I have tried it with the sharpening in LR at various settings and cannot equal the sharpness of the NEF files processed through either Nikon software or through Capture One.
Yes, all of the View or capture images have more pronounced grain than the Lightroom ACR images, but that can be reduced without losing the detail advantage.
For the sake of completeness I have downloaded ACR 5.4 and re-done the test using camera raw instead ( ACR v VNX).
I haven't included any Capture One samples, but to all intents they are the same as the View NX samples.
I am open to the idea that there is something I am or am not doing, as I love the workflow through Lightroom and if I can match the detail levels I get via the other programmes then all will be well with the world.
Your thoughts?
All the best.

IMovie vs FCPX export quality

Afternoon/morning all.
Question I have is regarding the export quality of FCPX vs iMovie!!
I've been using iMovie for over a year now but only recently started to publish my work.
I get on with iMovie great but the one issue that let's it down is the export quality, it's been driving me crazy but after finally looking into it seems that iMovie is the problem and reduces the footage quality.
I'm just thinking about upgrading to FCPX the extra editing features and functions will be great too.
I just want to know that the exporting footage in FCPX won't reduce the quality of the footage!
Can anybody help!!
Thanks

'quality' is a very complex issue.
Most consumer IMPORTS do look nice, when the cam is connected straight to a telly.
… but those recordings contain tons of 'flaws'. (low bitrates, artefacts due to wrong exposure etc)
the difference, how iMovie and FCPX handle that:
• iM uses as intermediate AppleIntermediateCodec - which does marvel with all the diff. flavors of video, a consumer wants to edit ... but it is far from perfect.
• … and iMovie deinterlaces interlaced material = reducing vertical resolution by half
• FCPX transcodes to proRes or even handles codecs 'natively' - which reduces transcoding errors (dramatically)
on export, both apps use the same Quicktime-engine, I dare to say no difference.
using the wrong export settings, multiplies bad imports …
the 'hurt' is done on import, …
and most damage, in terms of quality, is done on recording ....

Exporting Quality Issue

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