Grading video

Why does my video that I carefully edit and grade in Final Cut Express look quite different, often lighter and less saturated, once exported to a Quicktime movie.
It looks great in the canvas window, dark, moody, sharp....but tends to lose these qualities once exported. Any Ideas how to preserve the quality of the image into the final output?
I'm using Magic Bullet Looks to grade the edited footage.

The formats used in FCE are designed for viewing on a video monitor. Is that where you're looking at the output?

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HD TV or LCD monitor with HDMI,DVI supported to preview and color grading

Finally I got my canon HFS100 and Intensity Pro now what type of the monitor should I get to preview and color grading video via intensity pro between HD TV or LCD monitor with HDMI,DVI supported and how to calibrate monitor via intensity pro.
Please help.
narkin

The main downside is that an HDTV is designed to be used at TV viewing distance. So it would work fine for presentations, where the audience is sitting more than 5 feet away. But at typical computer screen distance of 2-3 feet, it is the same 1920x1080 pixels spread out over a 32-inch screen. Oh, actually, that HDTV you mentioned is only "720p", which is only 1280x720. That may not look all that good at TV distance either, if you are displaying images that are static (non-motion).
Your eyes will have to work harder to see the same screen real estate, because everything is bigger on the screen. Images and text will not look as sharp (more pixelated) because each pixel is larger. It won't be like using a 30-inch Cinema Display, which has 2560x1600 pixels. Each pixel on that 32-inch 720p HDTV is more than 4 times larger.
A 1080p HDTV would be somewhat better, because that is 1920x1080 resolution.

HDV on 24" iMac

will an iMac 24" with up graded video card be able to handle and edit HDV coming from a Sony V1U and their new clip on hard disc recorder.

First off, the iMac will be able to import and work with HDV just fine out of the box. You need an external hard drive though.
Second, you cannot replace the video card in the iMac...not without seriously voiding the warranty.
Shane

Two identical audio tracks, identical waveforms, BUT non-sync playback!

Hi all - I've been up all night trying to figure this one out... I've shot a video on XDCAM, edited using the native codec in FCP 6.06, graded in Color and sent back to FCP as ProRes 422 (HQ).
Now, here's the weird one - the original unmixed soundtracks have remained in sync with the graded video, but the mixed track from the sound studio gradually drifts out of sync by about 15 frames after 10 minutes of playback. I figured it was just a sample-rate mismatch but all tracks checked out and are all 48KHz - even the graphical waveforms are visually a frame-perfect match. Then I figured it could be hard disc speed or an issue with the Blackmagic card - but an export to DVD via Compressor also produced a disc where the audio gradually slipped out of sync so I've pretty much ruled out hardware.
The only difference I can see in FCP is the sequences are '32-bit floating point' and the 48KHz .wav mixes are '16-bit integer'... I've tried changing the sequence settings but the audio still drifts.
Any guidance would be much appreciated... this thing isn't giving me any more clues to work with!
Cheers,
Tom

Thank you for your solution! I just ran into a similar problem. A friend of mine cleaned up some audio for me in his studio, and he gave me 96KHz WAV files. I put the WAV clips into the timeline, and lined up the visible waveform, exactly to the frame (I found a very distinctive click on one frame near the end of the clip). But the WAV audio gradually drifts, so at the end of about one hour of video, the WAV audio sounds about 60 frames late! I can see that distinctive click in the waveform, but I hear that click 60 frames later! Even when I delete the video and the original audio, so only the WAV file is playing, the sound of the audio drifts out of sync with the visible waveforms. Very strange...
I will try your solution of running the WAV through Compressor to produce an AIFF, and I'll let you know what happens. - Seth Hill

Animation workflow query

Hi!
I'm just nailing down the workflow of a short animation I'm making, and require a little bit of light shed on the situation.
The broad workflow is:
1: Each shot of the animation will be created in After Effects
2: Render a Master and an Offline version of each shot
3: Perform offline cut in FCP
4: Re-link offline cut to Master files
5: Grade in Color, send back to FCP
6: Export final mastered video
Specifically, I just want to run through the Color/onlining part of the workflow.
I was thinking the best Master version of each shot would be a tiff image sequence - but is there a better alternative re: working in Color?
Should I convert my image sequences to Pro Res 444 movies, and then use those as the Master files for sending to Color?
Presumably I could then render out a Pro Res 444 graded video from Color, then send this back to FCP for the final video with sound?
Many thanks for any help offered
Will

Depending on the speed (Bitrate) that your system can support (and your version of FCP/COLOR, but you must be on 7/1.5 if you're talking about 4:4:4:4 ProRes), the TIFF sequence might make a couple of percent difference in the final analysis -- and this might be important if you are prepping this for a film-out.
If your final deliverable is Quicktime/Web or videotape, you are wasting your time, resources and patience going the TIFF sequence route and you will find the ProRes trip far easier to manage.
Beware that you will likely encounter a lot of gamma coefficient issues no matter what route you choose.
jPo

Could not write frame (communication error with child process failed)

Hi ---
Getting this error about 50 % of the time when I try to render ?
What good is a grading app that is having so much trouble rendering out the results ?
Any help would be great

I Would love some help with this as well. I've color corrected and am rendering. I have chosen these settings based on the video files in Premeire.
It gets all the way to 98% and then says "communication with child process failed"
I tried unchecking "strip alpha" as suggested above to no avail.
What is going on? I spent a good deal of time on this and have deadlines and all I want to do is get this graded video back into premeire. Thank you!

FCE4 on Dual G4 tower

I have a dual 1.0 GHz G4 tower (mirror drive doors), which I have used for iMove 06. I would like to graduate to FCE4. FCE4 requirements is a 1.25GHz G4. Common sense dictates that 2 x 1.0GHZ is faster than 1 x 1.25GHz, but I just want to make sure I am in spec. Has anyone had success installing FCE4 on such a machine?

I have a Dual 1 Ghz Quicksilver (older than your machine) and just loaded FCE4 (up-grade from FCE HD 3.51). I got a warning on install that only 1.25 Ghz and above machines were supported, but that I could continue. So far FCE4 seems to be working fine. I do have a up-graded video card (ATI 9800 Pro).

HP Z840 workstation with 3 HP Z Turbo Drive G2

HI ,i want to build workstation for 4k Grading video and 3d animation so i choose to go with Z840.what i realy looking for is some info on the HP Z Turbo Drive G2 512gb and if i can use 3 of themone for the operation system win 8.1and 2 others combine with raid 0 for data can this combination can work or i can't do it ? thanks.

Hi,
You might get better assistance on the HP Enterprise Business Forum since you have a professional workstation.
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

Color grading controller used in Apple's video?

Hi,
I was watching an "In Action" Final Cut Studio video on Apple's website (the "Euro RSCG" one to be more precise):
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/action/
and I was wondering what Color grading controller was that guy using?
http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/mac/finalcutstudio2/2008/inaction/applefinalcutstudio_eurorscg_20080617640x360.mov

It's a JL Cooper control surface. http://www.jlcooper.com/cgi/index.cgi?home

Why do I get a loss of quality video when placing titels or grading in FCE. Even after rendering and saving to the final product? The video starts to get shaky

Whenever I place a title in my video in FCE, the part where I placed it losses its quality. Its getting shaky and blurred.
Even afther rendering and saving it to the final end product. The same problem occurs when I'm collor grading. I use the internal tools for titels and grading of FCE.

and some more specs;
My systsem >>
IMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
clips and master on Imac
Scratchdisk on external disk with firewire 0.8
On both disks I have more tehn 0,5 TB geheugen left
Videocamera HF 100
Imported clips >>
- FXP 17 Mbps
For RT I use >>
- RT Unlimited
- Playback Video Quality high
- Playback framerate high
Videoclip =
- videorate 25 fps
- framesize 1920 x 1080
- compressor apple intermediate codec
- pixel aspect square

I am having problems with video and high content webpages freezing. I am also getting pixel lines across my webpages. Maybe two or three lines. I was running os 10.4 but I just up graded to 10.6 the other day. I have 2GB of RAM.

I am having problems with video and high content webpages freezing. I am also getting pixel lines across my webpages. Maybe two or three lines. I was running os 10.4 but I just up graded to 10.6 the other day. I have 2GB of RAM.

Exactlly which model iMac do you have?
see > How to identify iMac models
Unfortunately that is not all that uncommon for the Early Intel iMac's given there age and the fact that the air intakes are probably choked with dust. Then add the extra heat caused by running a more intense OS X which is causing it to run a little warmer than normal and putting extra stress on the graphic and display components.
My 6½ year old 17" Early 2006 Core Duo w/2GB of RAM is also running 10.6.8 and is also starting to get a single line that (knock on wood) goes away after a few minutes, while many others started getting permanent ones after 2 or 3 years. One thing that I think has helped, is that about every 3 or 4 months I shutdown and vigorously vacuum out the bottom grill work and small vent under the stand to keep it running cool.
On that note: unfortunately I can only suggest that you clean your intake vents and hope that no permanent or irreversible damage has been done.

I'm Having problems with the video freezing and the sound carrying on since I up graded my iPad to ios8 BBC IPLAYER

I Am having problems with the video freezing and the sound carrying on whilst watching BBC IPLAYER ITV PLAYER until I reboot video and the problem acures again

Your Mac runs maintenance in the background for you.
Command + R gives you access to restore, repair, or reformat the drive using OS X Recovery
No idea why that was suggested.
You may have a third party video player installed that's causing an incompatibility issue.
Check these folders:
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/
/Library/Input Methods/
/Library/InputManagers/
/Library/ScriptingAdditions
~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/
~/Library/Input Methods/
~/Library/InputManagers/
~/Library/ScriptingAdditions
The first four locations listed are in the root-level Library on your hard disk, not the user-level Library in your Home folder.The tilde (~) represents your Home folder.
To access the Home folder in OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, open the Finder, hold the Option key, and chooseGo > Library.

Up gradeing from a gen 3 40 gig to a 80 gig video

i currently have a gen 3 40 gig ipod and bought a new 80 gig video ipod can i just plug the new i pod in and wiil it down load all my songs?
hp Windows XP

Make sure you update your Windows XP , with the latest updates.
IPOD Firmware = Ver 1.2.1
Use ITunes Version 7.0 or 7.0.216 the latest!!
Go to the IPOD setup/Summary /Music etc. and configure the settings that best suit your preference! Manual or Sync operation!
Hope this helps!!
Compaq PC / 1GB Ipod Nano & 80GB Video Windows XP Pent 2.53 GHZ 512MHZ MB RAM 120GB HD

Since up grading to V6 I can't find any video that plays, they used to!

Before I upgraded to V6 ( From V5) I didn't have much problem playing videos, but since upgrading to V6 no videos play, not youtube, flixy or jazz videos, or videos from Brasscheck!
Is there a workaround for this?
Is there a way to revert to V5?
Thanks,
noaxetogrind

Finitarry, I tried disabling all plugins, then tried to run a video I get from "Jazz on the tube" the video still won't play. enabled them again & tried the video again, no go. This video would play in Firefox 5 without problems, all the problems started with the installation of Firefox6.
Can I still download Firefox 5 somewhere?

Fantastic video showing the power of colour grading

I recently watched this and found it to be a fantastic example of the effect a grade has on an image and thus the story. Well worth a watch for the aspiring colorists out there like myself.

I'd seen that recently too ... popped up on the personal view forums ... and actually, it illustrates one of the big problems of learning to be a colorist or even working in the field ... there is SO much that you can do! WOW you can change things ... so ... um ... what is the choice for *this* clip, sequence, or project gonna be?
As one starts developing a sense of capability, and learning how to create Looks and LUT's and use and mix and re-purpose them the first thing you get is seriously over-stressed! Well, that and ... one can find one just spent 4 lovely hours playing with all the options for a scene or interview or whatever, but ... everyone else went home three hours ago and it was just a small short project you were expecting to spend ten minutes doing something "acceptable" for and ... ... and ... ... and ... you've only got about 300 things left you want to try!
SpeedGrade is the single most addictive program I've ever been around ... not that it doesn't at times drive me nuts also, like it is over not finding sufficient video resources right now when it doesn't even USE my video card which it was doing ... but still, I love working the colorist part far more than editing or shooting or anything.
Having fun, I hope?
Neil

Grading video

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