Grainy/washed out beta cam footage

Our company has been using Media 100 for a number of years now. We have been testing out Final Cut and Avid as upgrades. In putting together a project in Final Cut, I brought in both DVCam and BetaCam footage (I digitized the BetaCam through our Media 100 break out box and Firewire cable for DVCam). The DVCam footage looks great, but the BetaCam footage is grainy and washed out. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong to get this result and how to remedy it?
Power Mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

No. The clips look fine after Media 100 export. The graininess comes after FCP import. What type of break out box do others use for FCP if they shoot on BetaCam? I was in hopes of getting more feedback; thanks for the reply.

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My RAW files look washed out jpegs are OK

My RAW files look washed out, in camera I introduced warm colours by setting it on cloudy and set to vivid. They look great in other programs, how do I retain the original colors?

Buddy, the issue is that Photoshop Camera Raw / Bridge don't use the parameters you set in-camera at all. It may seem odd that it doesn't, but that's the way it works.
The idea is that these software tools give you full control over literally hundreds of factors that go into your raw conversions, and trying to emulate the presets on the camera just doesn't make sense.
You need to save new Camera Raw Defaults to deliver color you like in new exposures you haven't opened before. Check especially the Camera Profile setting in the Camera Calibration tab in Camera Raw. Adobe does provide some options that will get you close to what the camera does, then you can tweak the settings further.
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Instead of renting a deck, I figured I'd just use a mini-DV camera to digitize some footage. The reasoning I'm using, is that there is NO DIFFERENCE in quality between digitizing mini-DV footage from a professional deck vs just a mini-DV camera. Is that correct?
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As it looks great on the camera's LCD, I'm wondering if there isn't some capture setting somewhere. Otherwise, I'm going have to boost the saturation and contrast to try and make the FCP footage match what I'm seeing on the camera.

It's all there in my initial inquiry.
Kind of...(let's not forget that your profile still lists G4 / Mac OS 10.4.2)...these details are important.
We ask for specifics, because often users have inadvertently tweaked settings, or run Software Update or some other upgrade, that can affect the system as a whole, particularly FCP.
Things like... exactly which version of QT are you using? Snow Leopard loads QTX (QT10) by default, which can cause it's own issues. It is possible to load QT7 additionally, but it will go into your Utilities folder (you should be able to move it to Applications), but since I'm not versed in SL, I'll not speculate whether it's an issue for you or not.
That's one example. So, please give us exact versions/info on...
OS/FCP/QT
Capture and Sequence settings (just to make sure)
How is the camera connected?
How are you currently monitoring your captured media?
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Nice footage in FCP, but washed out in export

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I've never had this problem in the past, but I didn't have FCP 6, Quicktime 7.2 and wasn't working with HD back then either. I'm sure it probably had to do with the Quicktime update. Does anyone know of anything else that can be done? Has this problem been figured out yet or am I just overlooking something?
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The field order of the clips are also set to none.
Here is a picture of the item properties window of one of my main shots:
http://gabrielredding.com/clip_info.jpg
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Hello!
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1. If you're using Internet Explorer, set it to 'Compatibility View' so as to be able to upload images.
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3. When you encode to DNxHD 4:2:2 (that's what you were doing), set Color Levels to 'RGB Levels':
Set Color Levels to '709' when you encode to DNxHD 4:4:4
DO NOT interfere with the Depth settings when encoding to DNxHD and generally avoid using 'Maximum Render Quality'.
4. Since you wisely cropped the left part of the Export Setting dialog box, it's unclear whether you see video output on exporting or not.
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Well, my eyes must be doing some wonky things then... because in my experience its LR that is cheating me on the colors.
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The best we can do, since ACR isn't intelligent enough, is to fiddle with the calibration settings, and save that as the new default for the camera. (There are scripts that help do this if you have a Color-checker and CS2/CS3... but are of no help if you use only LR or Elements.)
Never expect the default settings in RAW (for ANY converter... Canon's included (with execption, perhaps of Zoombrowser)) to match the preview you see on the camera, or the out-of-camera jpeg. Adjustments will need to be made. Unfortunately in ACR, this means hours of messing the calibration sliders, much trial and error, and perhaps multiple presets to help with different lighting conditions.
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edit: (I'm (slightly) exagerrating the extent of the shift above... but its VERY noticable... and can be very frustrating.
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Hello, I just bought an apple TV, and realised it is 720 HD and the photo that I air play from my Iphone 4 is a bit grainy on my flat screen tv which is 1080p HD. is there a set up where the picture comes out better like it should

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I sight camera colours washed out

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Hi
There are no controls.
But there is this iGlasses http://www.ecamm.com/mac/iglasses/
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Why do my photos in "photos" look so washed out compared to iPhoto?

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I took them with various cameras. But that isn't important. I'm comparing how the same photos look in Photos and how they look in iPhoto. They look better in iPhoto.

Washed-out H.264

I have HDV 1080i60 footage from HDR-FX1.
When I export it using the HDV 1080i60 codec, the colors looks as good as original, but the size is always 1920x1080, even when I put in a smaller size (the weird thing is that the file info then shows the smaller size in finder, even thorough it’s still the 1920x1080).
Apple Intermediate Codec leaves the colors alone, but people with PC’s can’t play the file.
H.264 is the best; I can select any size, and the files are small with good quality, but the colors are washed out.
Is there anything else I can use that will not wash it out and be playable by everybody and unloadable to YouTube and MySpace?
Thank you,
MaW

macalltheway wrote:
Is there anything else I can use that will not wash it out and be playable by everybody and unloadable to YouTube and MySpace?
You should be fine sticking with h.264 so long as you specify the color space.
What that means is, after you've adjusted all your other setting, go to the Filters pane in Compressor's Inspector window and hit the Color tab (the one on the right). The default setting is Default for Encoder, but you should have better luck with +Preserve Source.+ If that doesn't suit your needs, you might want to experiment with the HD (709) color space.

Colours washed out - YUV or RGB?

I just outputted my sequence to DVD and when I play it on the TV, the colours are washed out (on the computer looks fine). My yellow subtitles are almost white (subtitles made in FCP).
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Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Cheers,

Hey,
I had the same problem when I started to author DVDs...
DV has a 0 setup (black level) and broadcast TV is 7.5 Setup. Most DVD players have two settings in the DVD player setup menu - one for richer black (0 setup) or regular (7.5 setup). They come with regular black as default. Most people don't even know about this setting on their players.
But when you're looking at your DV sequences (even on an NTSC monitor), you're looking at the DV footage at 0 setup, with richer blacks.
Then, when you encode, burn and watch it on your DVD player, you're getting an image with 7.5 setup.
So, you will always get a discrepancy, unless you set your DVD player and your clients' to richer black, or add about 10 to 15 point of black using a Color Corrector filter inside FCP just before you encode!
I've decided to adopt the latter, since I've asked around and discovered that pretty much no one messes with that black setting in their DVD players!

Washed-out Quicktime Renders...

Whenever I export a clip from FCP in any other codec than Animation, the result is always a washed-out looking clip (even when working within the same codec).
The loss of quality is about 15-20%. I've had the same problem for some years now. I first realized this when exporting from FCP, I tried then to export from AE, Commotion, etc., and the result was always the same. I came to the conclusion that it must be something to do with the QT core (since all these applications use it). My HD has already been re-formatted and both OS and all applications have been re-installed. I have two computers and it happens in both of them. I ended up rendering everything on animation which is an OK solution for SD but a nightmare for HD. Every time I render a clip it quadruples it's size!!!
Any help will be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
E.C.

First off, Apple doesn't read these forums for the most part. Not the people who deal with the making of FCP at any rate. It is a community they created for people to help people.
Second never ever EVER judge the quality of the footage using your computer monitor. Not the Final Cut Pro Canvas, Quicktime player, After Effects window...nowhere. ONLY on a broadcast monitor attached to the system. My clip I have in FCP, looks the same this way when viewed in FCP, from After Effects, Shake...even QT player.
What you are seeing is the differences in the ways various applications show the footage.
BUT...there is something that is happening. I will quote a post on another forum, because the thread is REALLY long and this post happened near the end.
Jude Cotter:
"The problem is RGB vs Y'CbCr.
When you import a Y'CbCr file into a RGB application like Shake or AE or Motion, it maps 0 percent values to 0 and 100 percent values to 255. This means that any luma or chroma values outside super black or super white get clipped, and that the values inside these units get adjusted accordingly.
Older versions of FCP also apply gamma adjustments on import (as Stu says) but FCP 5.1.2 has a new system for handling gamma - it doesn't apply extra gamma correction on output anymore, and there is a user selectable preference for import gamma handling.
But if you are moving to or from RGB applications and FCP (in a broadcast environment), you need to understand the changes that being applied and pre-compensate.
I've only just started to get a handle on this, so I'm not the font of all knowledge on gamma in FCP. If you need to understand this stuff (most people don't, really) I can recommend a new book called The Encylopedia of Color Correction by Alexis Van Hurkman"
Here is the thread:
http://www.lafcpug.org/phorum/read.php?1,168873,169120#msg-169120
Shane

Possible solution to PDFs looking washed out/colors faded

I decided it would be easier to post this as a new thread in itself than to reply to each and every thread related to this problem.
I searched the forums to try and find a solution to images looking washed out/colours looking faded after exporting from InDesign CS3 to PDF.
After looking through the forums I came to the conclusion that the reason the images looked faded was because I have objects with less than 100% opacity in InDesign so if you also have similar settings this may work for you also.
When exporting from InDesign, under the Output tab I changed the Colour Conversion setting to Convert to Destination.
Other than that I left everything else as it was.
This solved my blacks looking washed out, particularly my fonts which had become a sort of grey/brown colour.
However I noticed that on the pages with images after the pages that had objects with varying transparencies, they still suffered from looking washed out.
The next step I came across purely by chance: Opening the PDF using Acrobat, under the Advanced tab I chose PDF Optimiser and noticed that the Transparency option in the sidebar hadn't been checked like the Fonts and Image options had.
So I checked the box and set the Preset to High Resolution and clicked OK.
It took a minute or so to Save the new file and once I opened it, the richness and contrast of the images had returned, if anything slightly over saturated but a lot better than the washed out/faded appearance of the previous document.
Hopefully this will work for a few people out there having the same problem.

I've actually responded a few times to others on the forums regarding images looking washed out/faded in Acrobat 8. I thought I'd pass that information to you here just in case it helps. In those cases, the images that had that appearance either had transparency applied or interacted with it in some way. However, if the file was viewed with the Output Preview dialog open (under Print Production tools) the colors appeared correctly. They would also be correct if the transparency was flattened. As it turns out, there was a bug in Acrobat 8 that affected the onscreen display of those images that interacted with transparency or had it directly applied and the transparency was still "live" (not flattened). This was fixed in the update to 8.1. If you are running 8.0 you might want to try updating to 8.1 and see if that helps?

Imported clips appear washed out, too bright

I posted this question in iMovie HD forum, but realize its an iMovie HD 6 application I'm using. so here goes again:
I'm having problems importing video into iMovie. They appear washed out, as if the brightness had been turned up. The video appears fine in the crt of the camera, but the video imported to iMovie looks terrible. This just started happening, and I can't figure out why.
Is this a problem that has cropped up with my video camera? Or have I somehow altered a setting in iMovie? Any ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jon

No one answered my post which leads me to believe I did something wrong...oh well. Better luck next time.

Grainy/washed out beta cam footage

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