Quicktime to FCP quality loss

I am trying to import Quicktime screen captured movies into Final Cut to edit and add narration. The clips look great when played in Quicktime, but look horrible in Final Cut after import. I've tried every type of export out of Quicktime, but none seems to preserve the quality of the originals. When I try importing the raw Quicktime originals, they look even worse than the exported clips. I'm thinking it might be a setting in Final Cut. I am doing the captures with iShowU. ????? Anyone know if theres a way to play a Quicktime clip to a DV camera?
g4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
g4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
g4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
g4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

What settings are you using in the capture software? Try DV NTSC if that's what you want to record back to... and never judge the quality on a computer display... look at it externally on a video monitor. If it looks bad there, then maybe you're trying to capture more than will ever look good on video...
Might try shooting the screen too with a camera, this works well usually as long as the computer's display is an LCD. CRT displays don't work well without some futzing around.
Jerry

Similar Messages

Significant quality loss and jagged diagonal lines when exporting from FCP

I've been working on this problem for several days and I'm going insane! Every time I export my movie from Final Cut, there is a significant quality loss. It is most noticeable in two ways: diagonal lines become very jagged (looking somewhat like diagonal lines in an older video game -- more a diagonal sequence of blocks); also, in some areas such as faces, the colors get a little blurry and there seems to some "pooling" of colors around the edges of the face.
I'm pretty sure the problem's not in capture: the Quicktime clips that I captured from the camera are all pristine. When I play them in Quicktime, I can blow them up several times their original size, and they maintain their sharp lines. (I also Reverse Telecined them all with Cinema Tools, if that's relevant.) I also know the problem's not just my computer monitor; when I play these movies on my external monitor and TV, they look bad too. The clips look bad after I bring them into Final Cut, and while I'm editing, but at first I figured that was because Final Cut sometimes doesn't show full resolution in the timeline. Still, when I export, the quality of the original captures just isn't there.
Some details:
Captured from 24A progressive, Sony HVR V1U HDV.
Using Final Cut 6.0.1, Compressor 3.0.1, Quicktime 7.2.0, OS 10.4.10 (all the most recent versions I believe).
I've exported in many different ways: using Compressor (and have tried a number of different settings: the DVD Best Quality 90 Minutes default Setting, as well as using a variety of bit rates from 3.0-8.0, One pass CBR, Two pass CBR, Two pass VBR, Two pass VBR best; Video Formats NTSC, HD 1440x1080...I have tried many combinations. Regardless of the size of the m2v created, the files seem to have the same problem over and over. I've also tried exporting from Final Cut as a Quicktime Movie and with Quicktime Conversion. Same result. I also tried using different compressors with my Final Cut sequence: Apple Intermediate Codec (which I used when capturing -- you have to with the Sony HVR), HDV 1080p24, HDV 1080i60, Apple Pro Res 422, H.264...
What's happening? Why is Final Cut turning my nice pristine captures into jagged foulness? What can I try that I haven't yet?

Welcome to the forums!
Unfortunately, you seem to have tried everything I can think of, and I don't have the latest versions of FCP to know if it is a bug. However, in the off chance that you haven't given this a shot:
Take a problematic 10 second section of your timeline (set in and out points) and the Export -> Quicktime (not QT Conversion) and make sure that you have it on Quality settings that you captured, and select the "Make Self Contained" box.
Look at that in Quicktime and see if it's bad. If it's not problematic, use that video file in Compressor for your render.
Hope that helps!
~Luke

Quality loss from FCP to Motion

Hi there!
I'm getting a quality loss in the form of compression-based square artifacting when I send a piece of lossless footage to Motion from FCP. If there's a loss everytime one sends files, why would anyone use it? Does anyone know how to keep the footage lossless while sending between apps?
Thanks!

Patrick, thanks so much for your help. You're all really helpful on here!
Exporting in prores still displays artifacts and they show up when I bring it into FCP (regardless of whether I import the clip fresh or have it saved back from a "send").
Here's what I tried:
importing clip directly into a new motion file (not sent from FCP) - movie displays with artifacting - upon rendering, rendered clip still has issue - imported into FCP - still shows artifacting
by importing the motion clip with artifacts into FCP and display in the timeline, FCP changes it's settings to match the clip as usual - I then tried importing the original source clip directly into FCP and when I move it to the timeline, it also shows identical artifacts. However, if I bring in the original clip first, so FCP changes it's settings to match it, the motion clip still shows compression.
Assuming the problem is with the transcode, is this just an issue with this video format working with motion? If so, I assume this means our video team needs to use a different codec. We're shooting a lot of green screen for HD video - any recommendations for a better codec?
Also, is this an issue that Apple can address with future versions of Motion?
Thanks again!

Quicktime export from FCP quality bad on Windows Quicktime

Hey all,
I believe this question has been brought up in a previous post (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2932763&#2932763 "Quicktime export from FCP quality bad on PCs"), but it was never answered. So I captured video using final cut pro using the following capture preset:
Sequence Preset - DV NTSC 48 kHz
DVR-TRV900 using NTSC
29.97 fps
DV - NTSC at Best Quality
24 bits per pixel
720 by 480
When I view the video under quicktime for mac, it looks good. However, when I view the content under quicktime for windows, the quality is noticeably degraded. For instance, when I looked at the video clip in mac, there was a text overlay that displayed the time and date. When I look at it in Windows quicktime, the quality has degraded to an extent that the numbers are no longer readable. Besides the overall quality difference in playback between mac and pc quicktime, there are no other noticeable artifacts. Also, I tried viewing the video in VLC (video lan client) on windows, and it looks perfectly fine.
Ray

seems like this is a PC Quicktime issue rather than an FCP issue, you may have more success in resolving the problem if you post your question on the Quicktime for Windows forum
that said, you might want to check the Quicktime Player preferences on your PC (Edit > Preferences > Player Preferences)
make sure you have checked the "Use high quality video setting when available" checkbox
good luck
Andy

Tif export quality loss

hi,
i exported a tif sequence from a mp4 in premiere (cs6) to do some compositing on it. the exported images look the same but when doing some color correction on it the tif sequence reveals that it's in lower quality.
the left side is the tif export with significant less detail.
i also tried ae with color management but i always had the same problem.
rendering with 'use max depth' and 'use max quality' did not solve the problem.
did i miss something or is premiere processing some colors wrong internally?
(as a sidenote, quicktime player, nuke, vegas12 worked just fine)

hi,
it looks like the problem is related to mpeg 4. i did not have time to do further testing. here is the file info:
Format                         : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                 : Advanced Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP          : Yes
Format settings, QPel          : No
Format settings, GMC           : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix        : Default (H.263)
it did not occur with other videos.
the interesting thing is that the quality is fine within the timeline. but upon output there is a quality loss.
no, output is 8bit. as mentioned in the first post 'use max depth' did not solve the problem.
quicktime based applications did not have the issue.
as for the color shift problem i thought it is related to the same issue but it was something different and is fixed now. i was unable to edit the post to remove it.

Huge quality loss in iMove '11

Hello fellow iMovie users.
Yesterday I upgraded to iLife 11 to get the new iMovie and its "new" audio editing capabilities. I could ofcourse just buy it from Mac App Store, but I am principally against App Store and its strict rules, so I choosed to get it the old way.
Anyway, I liked what i saw. Finally the new iMovie was about as good as the five year old one, and had some neat features like chroma key and cropping.
So I decided to start practicing and create a short video based on some old DV-videos filmed with my Canon MV950 DV-PAL camera.
I imported the footage into iMovie, and noticed some significant quality loss after the import.
And it get worse. After I exported the video, it seems like it is heavily compressed, even if I'm exporting to QuickTime and selects the highest quality possible.
I have some screenshots to show you the differences.
This is the original DV-footage.
The imported video. Notice the higher compression and the choppy edges.
And this is the exported video. Notice the insanely bad quality, especially in dark areas.
Is there any way to fix this, or do I have go back to iMovie HD?
PS. Sorry if my post is a bit unreadable. I'm from Norway.

Steve,
While I agree everyone should have owned a HD camera by now, there are a lot of low-end SD cameras that are still being sold today. In this era of our economy, consumers are sensitive to prices; especially low or lower prices.
And unlike the video camcorder boom of the 80s with Sony introducing the Video8 handycam (shoulder mounted camcorder), people today do not video using traditional camcorders. Most either do it through a digital camera, DSLR, iPhone or blogger cameras and are already mostly in an acceptable progressive format. There is nothing wrong with DV style cam. Canon GL-2 and the Panasonic DVX-100 are still commanding such a very high price tag for cameras of older technology and still being repaired goes to show that there are people out there still using it.
If one can convert quality interlaced footage into quality progressive footage, you can use that footage and create good results using iMovie 11. I agree with you and Tom that iMovie 11 captures interlaced footage in full. But what's the use if it can't make a good product in the end that looks like what iMovie 6HD can do and when there are PC software out there including the free Windows Movie Maker that can do this with no problem.
Consumers, unlike some of us, only relate to past software used and are usually benign to the fact of progressive vs interlaced. I have dealt with some mis-informed customers that they believed FULL HD only means 1080p at 60fps; anything else is not. I digress.
With Mac users, they don't necessarily follow the same upgrade frequency as PC users either. Macs generally last a lot longer between upgrades compared to a PC because they don't have to run a barage of virus/spam/anti-malware growing definition files which ultimately slow an otherwise healthy PC down. Macs do not have to worry about this.

Video quality loss

I am importing video from a DVD using "Mac the Ripper", then converting the VOB files using "Video converter for mac 3.2.6".
Making up the my movie in Imovie 06 sending it to Idvd 08, and then burning a disc image using the best performance setting.
This all works fine except the quality from the original DVD is much better than the final result, being digital I thought there would not be much quality loss.
Is there a better way to achieve this without losing video quality. Or should I use different settings in any of the programs, (I have not changed settings from default setting in "Mac the Ripper" or "Video Converter".
Any advice appreciated, I am new to this process, but apart from quality loss I am having success.

Noted Bazmond, but we have to be careful!
You need to convert the VOB files back to DV which iMovie is designed to handle. For that you need mpegStreamclip:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
which is a mere $20.
Another possibility is to use DVDxDV:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm
which costs $25.
Obviously the foregoing only applies to DVDs you have made yourself, or other home-made DVDs that have been given to you. It will NOT work on copy-protected commercial DVDs, which in any case would be illegal.

Export quality loss

I must be missing something. Is there some place I can read all about codecs and video formats and how to export from FCE without massive quality losses?
Typical example:
I download a one-minute video in MPEG-4 format. It's 114MB, 1280x720, uses AAC and H.264 codecs, and data rate is 14 Mbit/sec. The QuickTime inspector says "millions" (of colors, presumably) and 60 fps. Video quality is excellent.
I edit it in FCE, and when I try to export it, there is severe quality loss, even when I set the bit rate very high.
Can somebody clue me in as to what I need to do to preserve the original quality?
Message was edited by: G Robert Lewis

Thanks. I got through the use of MPEG Streamclip OK, but I'm at a loss how to create an HD sequence that matches the clip's specs. None of the "settings" or "preferences" or "properties" I've looked at seem to cover the needed options. "Easy Setup" came the closest, but a matching resolution spec wasn't available.

Best bitrate settings with no quality loss from MPEG2?

I currently use Elgato's EyeHome to watch MPEG2 (DVD) files on my TV (thus no quality loss).
I have just ordered an AppleTV and would like any advice as to the best bit-rate settings for transcoding MPEG2 to H.264?
1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile... which bit rate for no quality loss / minimal quality loss?
Many thanks
Rick

Many thanks for your helpful comments.
First, I curently use EyeHome: this is a forerunner to AppleTV and very good. I stream 100% quality MPEG2 (converted from .vob files): so the quality is just as watching a DVD.
Second, the Export to AppleTV preset in Quicktime results in much worse quality. For example, taking a 5 minute sample from a DVD results in MPEG2 file size of 188MB. Export to AppleTV squashes this file to 77MB and a resulting drop in quality.
Third, although h.264 does compress file size better than MPEG2, for the AppleTV, the only (published) setting that does not result in drop of quality in terms of resolution, is to rescale upwards to 720i.
Through experimenting, so far using MPEG Streamclip and bit rate of 4MB/ps results in file size that is slightly larger than MPEG2 (as would be expected due to larger screen resolution) with no noticeable reduction in quality. Bitrate of 3MB/ps results in obvious quality drop. 5MB/ps obviously even better, but not noticeably greater than 4MB/ps.
Thanks for all your help again,
Rick

Display size query, + quality loss from iMovie originals

Learning to work the iDVD process, but what is the word on a foolproof sizing method, such that the thing will display OK on any TV? I don't see any way to restrict display size in iMovie, and what good is the TV Safe check, if you can't control the display size?? Also is quality loss inevitable? I'm compiling the DVD from separate files, less than 1 gb ea. I used "full quality" Quicktime compressed versions from the original iMovie file (which look fine in QT); then pulled those back in to iMovie, then shared to iDVD. One of the files looks fine encoded, but the other has weird sizzling-oil standing wave artifacts, even on still scenes from jpegs. Looking for help/comment/expressions of sympathy
Thanks,
John
Houston TX

Hi v
Quality of the DVD-disc depends on several things.
• Highes Quality isn't Top - better is Best Performances (up to 60 min movie)
confused naming - in iDVD'08 there is Pro Quality AND I like it.
• Media brand - I use Verbatim
• Type: DVD-R my choise no DVD+R or +/-RW
• I save a Disc-Image and burn this at an as SLOW speed as possibly (eg x1) with Toast™
(Disc Util tool can also do this)
• I DON'T USE the function Share/Export to iDVD from within iMovie - IT IS DESTRUCTIVE !!
Just drop the movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window - then iDVD do the
rendering and so much better. Especially if there is photos in the movie.
• Free space on internal (start-up) hard disc - should be about 25Gb when all material is imported
and structured. This for iDVD to work with - iDVD can't use an extern hard disc as scratch.
(less than 5Gb - result is most probably of no use at all)
This is what come's first to my mind.
Yours Bengt W

Quality loss from Premiere to Encore

Hello,
I am working on a project in Premiere with these settings. The project consists of a PowerPoint presentation that was created into a video file. In premiere I inserted AVCHD video clips over the parts of the presentation that required video parts. I am trying to create a DVD of this project and no matter what I do, the quality (mainly the text on the PowerPoint slides) has a good amount of quality loss...
I've tried using the dynamic link straight to Encore, but the quality almost seems the worst doing this.
I've tried MPEG-2 settings. The quality is a little better, but still not crisp like in Premiere.
What else can I try?? Thanks!!

Ok, I tried what you recommended and the text still wasn't crisp with the short piece exported. I have to scale it because the source is 960x720, and the framerate stayed the same as 30fps. I need this to be crisp and I'm not sure what else to do :/
It looks perfectly fine in Premiere and even when I export it as a QuickTime format with full quality, it looks great. But as soon as I bring the .mov into Encore it looks terrible... I try DVD and Blu-Ray
Please help!

Quality loss in Imovie after finalizing

Having read alot about codecs and converting i'm still not able to figure out why there's quality loss after finalizing my project in Imovie. In the original .MTS files I can see, when played with the VLC player there's a little noise in the grey and dark area's but it's more then acceptable. After converting and finalizing it's a horror to watch. The weird thing is that the converted .MTS into .MOV files look better when played in Miro then in Quicktime.
What advice can you give me on reducing the noise and making sure the movie looks best when played from a DVD on flatscreen? I want to do the editing in the higest possible quality because in the future I want to burn to BluRay aswell (I know that full HD is only possible when you burn to BluRay)
Here are the details:
1. I imported the material, filmed in 25P (so I don't have to interlace) directly from my canon HF200 into Imovie. I can choose between 960X540 or original size.
2. I choose original size and receive a warning that this can cause a negative effect on the quality. So maybe the problem is caused by my old and small laptop, see specifications underneath my questions.
3. The converted mov. files in Imovie appear to have more noise then the original and after finalizing to HD 1080p the noise in the grey and black areas is almost unwatchable.
Is there anything I can do besides buy a new laptop?
Thank you for your help!
Specs Mac
Modelnaam:          MacBook
Modelaanduiding:          MacBook4,1
Processornaam:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processorsnelheid:          2,1 GHz
Aantal processors:          1
Totaal aantal cores:          2
L2-cache:          3 MB
Geheugen:          4 GB
Bussnelheid:          800 MHz
Opstart-ROM-versie:          MB41.00C1.B00
SMC-versie (systeem):          1.31f1
Intel GMA X3100:
Chipsetmodel:          GMA X3100
Type:          GPU
Bus:          Ingebouwd
VRAM (totaal):          144 MB
Fabrikant:          Intel (0x8086)
Apparaatcode:          0x2a02
Revisiecode:          0x0003
Beeldschermen:
Kleuren-LCD:
Resolutie:          1280 x 800
Pixeldiepte:          32-bits kleur (ARGB8888)
Hoofdbeeldscherm:          Ja
Synchrone weergave:          Uit
Online:          Ja
Ingebouwd:          Ja

No worries Still your remark about the external drive is someting to take in to account, i have mine hooked on most of the time.

How to shoot 1080p/60, output to 720p/60, so Warp Stabilizer or zoom/crop has no quality loss?

I'm new to AE, and making a painful transition form FCP to Premiere, so please be patient, I don't understand many of the subtalties of these apps yet. :-)
Also, please forgive the long explaination, I'm having trouble articulating the problem...
I'm shooting in 1080p/60, AVCHD. I plan mainly to output to 720p/60.
The idea being, that if I need to warp stabilize footage, or zoom/crop, I can do so without any quality loss.
I don't want to edit the project in 1080p/60, because if I stabilize it, and it blows up the image, it will result in quality loss. Then when I scale down for final output, that pixilated/crapified footage will be present just in scaled down form.
I don't want the footage to be scaled down first, then, when I stabilize it, I'm blowing up 720p footage (thus defeating the whole purpose of doing this) and once again, outputting pixilated/crappified footage.
What are the steps / workflow to set up Premiere and the stabilizing shots in AE, such that I'm working in 720p, but using the 1080p footage, so that extra resolution is available when I need to crop, zoom, stabilize, etc. the footage... and can do so without any quality loss? It would be great to have that ability to zoom in on elements in post, almost 2x, and not see any loss of quality.
Thanks in advance!
-Jason Wallace

100% positive. There is a family of lesser known Prosumer Panasonic cameras (my particular model is the TM700) that record 1080p/60. It's a 3-chip, CMOS, that genuinly records at that resolution and frame rate. Has audio input, headphone output, shoe mount, zebra stripes, touch screen, good battery life, and a manual focus ring (fly by wire, can be set for exposure, framerate, or focus). Also has very good low light capabilities, that are much better than the published specs would lead you to believe. The firmware is a bit goofy, and was clearly designed by engineers, not people who have ever shot video. For example some things that should be easily accessible, are buried in menus, while other useless "fluff" features are front and quickly accessible.... but if you can live with a few stupid firmware compromises, it's absolutely AMAZING bang for the buck, and well under $1k to buy.
Note: if I'm not mistaken, the camera can only output via HDMI 1080i/60, but for absolute certain the video files being recorded are genuine 1080p/60. (This has lead to some confusion and forum arguements as to whether the camera is actually 1080p/60)
This was one of the main reasons for my moving from FCP to Premiere, as Premiere Pro handles the 1080p/60 AVCHD files, while FCP requires they first be transcoded and inflated to a intermediate codec.
-Jason W

Serious quality loss with MTS files and iMovie '11

Hello,
I have some issues with my brand new Panasonic HDC SD700 (a full HD camera)
I experience serious quality loss when I use iMovie to create a movie.
I did some tests, but still puzzled int this world of codecs and formats.
Maybe some of you can help.
I have made a short shot of 450 sec with highest mode (1080p 24fps)
It show is finder as a .MTS file size 99MB, I'm very happy with the quality when I play this with VLC.
iMovie turns this file into a .mov file with 635MB size, in Apple Intermediate Codec, Linear PCM, Timecode. This quality is already poor compared to original MTS file.
No wonder that the output file (select 1080p H.264 codecs) results also in unacceptable quality.
I'm running latest imOvie version with all updates etc.
I have no idea were to look to solve this issue. It is quite annoying since I have invested in a top Cam recorder. Not sure is Final cut express will sure the issue either.....

I have made a short shot of 450 sec with highest mode (1080p 24fps)
Have you tried shooting at the PAL standard of 25fps? I checked the specs for your Panasonic but didn't see any mention of a 24fps mode, but most reviews seem to miss mentioning the shooting modes. If you did indeed shoot at 24fps, did you choose this frame rate when importing to iMovie '11?
I export as 1080p (same as original. My output is a bit blurry and colors are a bit pale.
Did you use the 1080p preset under Share to Media Browser, or Export using QuickTime? If the latter, be sure to select an appropriate data rate - if set too low this may result in poor quality output.
And yes you are right I'm using IMovie '11, quite confusing that '11 means version 9.0
Yes - very confusing! In the forums, iMovie versions are generally referred to by their year number, not version number. It's a pity that we have version 9.0 (iMovie '11) and iMovie '09.
Glad you liked the video - it looked very clear on YouTube at 1080p Full Screen, at least to my ageing eyes!
John

A question about quality loss...

If I export one track (or several tracks) from GB to iTunes, and then import the resulting AIFF-file back onto a GB track (ie. if I want to collide a number of tracks), does any quality loss occur?
If I export one or several GB track(s) to iTunes, then open and edit the resulting file with Audacity, and then import the new, resulting file back onto a GB track, does any quality loss occur? (Disregarding, of course, any editing or tweaking I might have done in Audacity...)
If I repeat either of these processes with a sound file, say, 30 times, does any quality loss occur?
Or perhaps a better way to phrase the question: Does bouncing the same sound file back and forth between AIFF and WAV formats, by exporting and importing, have an influence on its sound quality?
When exporting from GB, I always try to export it turned up as loud as it will go without distorting. Often, my aim is to level it out and make it louder (or make it seem louder) in Audacity, and I have this vague idea that it is better to do this with a GB file that is already as loud as possible, rather than one that could easily have been louder. Sort of a signal-to-noise-ratio thing... Is that a correct assumption?
Should you always, and under all circumstances, keep sounds/tracks from moving into the red area in the meters in GB before exporting a track/song?

If you captured using TIme Code, and you still have the (properly labeled) original tapes with no breaks in Time Code, you can safely trash your Media files as FCP will accurately recapture if needed in the future. But if you used Capture Now, without time code. you’ll need to preserve the original Media Files as they can’t be accurately re-captured.
All still images, Motion files, Titles etc etc should also be preserved in the same folder as your Project File.
If you just want to save your movie as it is, you can print to video - BUT . . . it will only give you an replica of the movie - there will be no clips to edit in the future and all transitions are embedded, so they can't be edited either.
If you had several audio tracks, they'll be boiled down to one track - so no editing there either.
Alternatively, use Media Manager to copy the project to one folder on an external drive - giving it a new name. (MM can move just the part of a long Media File that's needed - and junk the rest) .
This will free-up loads of space if you have large or duplicated Media Files.
Then, after you're satisfied that the new project will play from that drive, you can trash the original. But remember, MM won't copy Motion files etc etc - check that everything's there before you trash the original. I like to make certain of this by having the drive which contains the original, disconnected when playing back the copy. You can't be too certain!
Render files can be trashed as you can re-render at any time.
Hope this helps.
Andy
G5 Quad 8GB. 250+500 GB HDs. G-Raid 1TB. FCP 5.1.1. Shake 4.1. Sony HVR Z1E Mac OS X (10.4.7)
"I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

Quicktime to FCP quality loss

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