Why poor quality AIC & Apple ProRes HQ video when compared to original video files!

First, I'm a long time PC user who has recently switched to Mac's and I'm rather picky about the quality of my videos.
Problem: I have HD video from a Canon HF S10 camcorder and Canon EOS 7D that looks fantastic on a PC... but looks very so-so once imported into a iMovie or FCE or FCP. I've tried all three programs using AIC and yes I've even tried Apple Pro Res HQ (FCP 7.0 log & transfer) and still end up with very poor quality mov files when compared to the originals. Part of the problem (or benefit of a PC) is that the PC actually plays the original RAW MTS/M2TS/MOV files without any trouble and and they look unbelievable. Where as my Mac has to import/convert the file to AIC or Apple Pro Res HQ... so no matter what codec I use, my Mac produces video that is not even close to what I get out of my PC.
My original RAW files are all 1920x1080 60i and are MTS files from the HF S10 and Mov files from the 7D. Even the original RAW Mov files produced from the 7D don't look as good on my Mac as they do on my PC. I even took a SD card with the original files down to the local Apple store to see how they look on a Macbook Pro and they still don't look like the originals on my PC. Also, all my comparisons are being done side by side on two 24" Apple cinema displays at full size (1920x1080) that are calibrated. What am I doing wrong and why the loss in quality? Any ideas as to why the quality is just so-so when compared to the originals would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

The thing that is wrong is that you are judging the quality of VIDEO on COMPUTER monitors. Properly calibrated or no...this is not how you do it. Calibration for computer monitors sets them right for PHOTOSHOP and color, not VIDEO and proper monitoring. Only getting a signal to a broadcast VIDEO monitor, or HDTV, will show you what you really have. And for that you need an HD input/output device or capture card...and the HDTV or HD monitor.
Computer monitors are never the place to judge video quality. Resolution is typically lowered to allow for full frame playback. Even if paused.
Shane

Similar Messages

Why poor quality AIC & Apple ProRes HQ when compared to original video files!

First, I'm a long time PC user who has recently switched to Mac's and I'm rather picky about the quality of my videos.
Problem: I have HD video from a Canon HF S10 camcorder and Canon EOS 7D that looks fantastic on a PC... but looks very so-so once imported into a iMovie or FCE or FCP. I've tried all three programs using AIC and yes I've even tried Apple Pro Res HQ and still end up with very poor quality mov files when compared to the originals. Part of the problem (or benefit of a PC) is that the PC actually plays the original RAW MTS/M2TS/MOV files without any trouble and and they look unbelievable. Where as my Mac has to import/convert the file to AIC or Apple Pro Res HQ... so no matter what codec I use, my Mac produces video that is not even close to what I get out of my PC. My original RAW files are all 1920x1080 60i and are MTS files from the HF S10 and Mov files from the 7D. Even the original RAW Mov files produced from the 7D don't look as good on my Mac as they do on my PC. I even took a SD card with the original files down to the local Apple store to see how they look on a Macbook Pro and they still don't look like the originals on my PC. Also, all my comparisons are being done side by side on two 24" Apple cinema displays that are calibrated. Any ideas as to why the quality is just so-so when compared to the originals would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

If you're working in Final Cut Pro you should try that forum. What version of the software are you using? The AVCHD media should be ingested using log and transfer. The 7D media should be converted using Compressor. You don' need HQ, ProRes is sufficient. How are you monitoring the video? Are full size on a video monitor? All this should be explained on the FCP forum. FCE does not work with ProRes in any form.

Is apple aware that Lion will not play HDV 720p25 Files in QT, poor show., Is apple aware that Lion will not play HDV 720p25 Files in QT, poor show.

I recently made the change to Lion from Snow Leopard, I use FCP and work natively with HDV 720p25 .mov files from a Focus DR-HD100 hard drive. I am getting a message saying that the files may be damaged, I want to know when this will be sorted, as I am completely unable to edit and its costing me big time.
My hands are tied, when will apple sort this, a very poor showing from Apple, not impressed. This has knocked my confidence in Apple.

i've been having the exact same problems myself since Lion was released. I've been having to work with .m2t files and then converting them with MPEG StreamClip to Apple ProRes 422 native quicktime files in order to even use the stupid HDD. All of my existing .MOV files that were on the HDD prior to upgrade are now all "corrupt". Spoke with Apple reps and Focus reps and both of course are pointing fingers at each other.
Also, found that .m2t files aren't as high quality as shooting with .mov files on the DR-HD100... interesting huh? I mean i'm not in too much of a pickle due to the fact that the HDD is still useable it's just more time and steps before getting to edit in FCP now which is annoying considering the fact that I shelled out a lot of money for this HDD to be able to edit immediately...
APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS!!!!
I know it's Apple's fault because when i shoot in .mov files on the DR-HD100 and bring them in on my mac mini which is still OS X Snow Leopard, they work just fine... so it's definitely a Lion issue...
Also, found out that once the files have been dragged onto a HDD operating within OS X Lion, they become corrupt FOREVER and you can't reverse the process! They remain fine on the DR-HD100 but if you drag them onto a OS X Lion machine, then decide to transfer them to a OS X Snow Leopard device via USB, Network, or whatever, it won't matter because they have already been corrupted by Lion!

Why poor quality slide show?

I own a 20" iMac purchased last January. I just produced my first slide show by sending some travel photos from iPhoto to iDVD and then burning them to a DVD. The results were very disappointing. The photos looked poor, either when viewing them on my TV set or on my computer. The original photos were high quality JPEGs taken with a Nikon D200 and looked great, but the same photos in the slide show were not nearly as sharp and looked like they were out of focus. I am wondering why the quality of the photos was degraded in the process. I will appreciate any insights on what might have gone wrong and suggestions on what I can do to produce an acceptable slide show.
Also, I did not program any music to be played along with the slide show, but when I played it, lo and behold, there was a musical accompaniment throughout the entire show. The music piece was nice, but it was a short composition that repeated itself innumerable times during the show to the point where I muted it. I would also like to know why I got music that I didn't program into the slide show.
Bob

Read what F Shippey and Old Toad say iin these 2 threads:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5513037&#5513037
and
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4988057&#4988057
Sue

Why does it take ages for my video files to be listed in the menu?

I have my apple tv 2nd generation connected to my airport extreme first generation via ethernet. I have my mac mini connected to the same network (though not connected to the airport extreme) with video files and tv shows in itunes. My itunes media is stored on a hard drive connected to my mac mini and home sharing is on.
It takes ages for my apple tv 2 to list the videos/tv shows in its menu. For example I have my films listed by genre. If I select a genre, it takes sometimes as long as 5+ minutes to list the videos within that genre.
Can anybody help with this frustration?

Welcome to the Apple Community.
You probably have a problem with your LAN. If you are using wifi:
You can download and install iStumbler to help you see which channels are used by neighbouring networks so that you can avoid them, but iStumbler will not see household items.
Refer to your router manual for instructions on changing your wifi channel.

Just updated my OS to os5...why did all of my music and video file turn into an "other" file and how do I fix it?

I just updated to OS5 and all of my video and music files are gone and now I have an inaccessible "other" file about the size of the of the old music and video files. When I go to sync music files in itunes they never show up on the phone. Help!

Never mind. Just read some similar questions and tried restoring it to backed up version and now everything seems to be working. What a relief!

Why poor quality when I export in HD?

I've shot some video on a Panaonic HDC-HS9, imported in original quality, edited it up, and want to export it in HD quality, for later use on DVD and YouTube HD.
When I export it using the standard setting HD 1080x720 (in the export movie... option), the quality is pretty poor, nowhere near HD standard, although the original footage is crystal clear.
Am I importing wrongly? Exporting wrongly?
The exported files are about 100MB per minute, so should look very sharp on my MacBook screen, rather than fuzzy.

I'm kind of a novice at this stuff, but if you select "Export using QuickTime..." instead of "Export Movie...", you have a lot more options to choose from. In particular, you can choose a 1920 x1080 resolution, which should improve the quality of your movie (but it will take about 4x longer to export and the file will be about 3x bigger). There are a lot of other choices as well... wish I knew what they all meant!

Why poor quality in EPS layer or type from Photoshop TIFF

This is probably a resolution issue that I don't understand, being relatively new to video. The last panel of a book trailer I'm finishing is an image from a children's book that I'm assembling in Photoshop. This layered file has the book's illustration, plus our logo (a vector file placed normally) and a type layer. It looks great in PS. When I flatten in, and then import it into Premiere both the logo and the type look a bit wonky.
When I created the sequence I chose DV-NTSC, Widescreen 48kHz. I'm obviously missing something. The TIFF that I'm working from is huge (6000x3000 px). Any help would be appreciated. Here is the MP4 with the problem on the last few seconds: https://vimeo.com/68399118

Upon further reflection, the entire video isn't as sharp as it should be, though I figured out one way to avoid/correct this. I started with a new sequence (AVCHD 1080p 30fps), copied my timeline over to there, and when exporting via Quicktime, it still came out slightly fuzzy, but exporting via H264 to an MPEG, its now sharp as a tack. Not sure why this is working, why this is now sharp when it wasn't before, but if anyone can reverse engineer an explanation for me, I'll learn.

Export to quicktime - poor quality with black around the video

I created a HD movie in cine format iMovie 08. Everything is great looking. Import to iMovie 6 HD, added test music .Share to Quicktime 540px X 260px. The movie when opened is black about 1 inch on sides and 1/2 inch top and bottom. Definitely not the way it is supposed to look. Video is not as sharp as the iMovie 08 original as well.
Check it out at
http://www.ramseydesign.biz/panguitch.html
What's up with that. Can't figure it out.

Where have all the experts gone? I thought this would have an easy solution.

Iphoto Pics on IDVD - why poor quality when shown on TV?

When I download IPhoto pics using IDVD and show them on my tv, the quality of the pictures is far less than when I view them on my computer screen. Is there anything I can do to improve the quality?

This might help: iDVD 7.0 Help (iLife '08): Preparing images for iDVD slideshows. If you intend to use the Ken Burns effect then I'd doulbe the size recommended in the above article.
Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process. To check the encoding mount the disk image and launch DVD Player and play it.
If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding was good and you can then burn to disk with Disk Utility at the slowest speed available, 2x-4x, to assure the highest burn quality. Always use top quality media: Verbatium, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.
OT

Using a speaker splitter; why poor quality???

Heres what Im trying to do. I have a very nice stereo system that Id like to plug my computer into. At the same time Id like to have my computer speakers set up also. You see, I dont want to have to jump behind my computer and manually plug one or the other in. Im not sure if Im using the right outputs. (I have the MSI audio bracket connected, but I dont have a digital connector.) So, If I have it right I should be using a splitter out of my computer to make the computer speakers and stereo speaker work; I may be using the wrong outputs.
Here the result when connecting the inputs seperately:
1.) Computer: speakers run fine.
2.) When the stereo is connected through the "vcr" wires I only get the left channel during testing. I have several different "stereo" connectors and input configurations, but still only left speaker.
Here the result when using a "stereo" splitter:
Computer speaker sound severly deminished and left/right switching is muddied.
Stereo sound diminished and, again, left channel only.
Since I bought the LISR board I didnt think this would be an issue. Im mean its suppored to have a the stereo stuff on it.
What am I doing wrong? It this something where normal left/right connectors dont work with stereos? I havent had this problem with any other stereo inputs. Maybe computer need special computer speakers? This has been driving me up the wall for months and I have spent all sorts of money to be sure I have stereo splitters inspead of mono splitters.
BTW how do I get my computer specs to list? I put them in my "signature" but it doesnt show up, so I have to keep doing it manually.
Thanks.
K7n2 Delta - LISR
AMD 2600 (AXDDA26000DKV3D 9486085287232)
Antec True480W +5V/38A, +12V/22A, +3.3V/30A; MaxW 480
MSI ATI 9800 Pro
1 GIG: Corsair XML 256 twins 2700 LL & Corsair XML 512C2
MSI Combo 48x-32x-48x; 16xDVD
Linksys Wireles PCI Adapter
DDR mode/Aggressive BIOs setting/ No OC.

Hi,
Haven't "dabbled" much with this but:
Are you saying that the 3.5mm jack plug to PC speakers works (using PC's audio out) . But when you connect a 3.5mm jack to your PC's output and the left/right phono plugs to your Hi-Fi it doesn't work?
It would be possible to plug a 3.5mm Jack plug to two 3.5mm jack sockets (Y-plug adapter) and then have your PC plugged into one and a 3.5mm Jack to L/R phono cable to your Hi-Fi - or are you saying you've tried this and it doesn't work? It would be better then to use either one or the other at a time (but I suspect that's what you are trying to do!) This means of course that both your Hi-Fi and PC speakers would all be connected to the one 3.5mm audio out jack of your onboard sound!
As this is complex to explain I've included links below to products, which should make it easier to understand!
See item "LP13" here for connection to PC:
http://www.jhs.co.uk/gycplugs.html
and for PC to Hi-Fi Connection, see here:
http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/dynamic/eshop_products.set/ref/25/from/kelkoo/display.html
Obviously, your PC speakers would be plugged into the spare 3.5mm socket of "LP13" described above!
Previous posters have hinted at using other methods which are equally easy to use but I just thought I'd bung this one in here too!
The SPDIF to Hi-Fi (SPDIF) coaxial and PC speakers to audio out are the best and easiest - that's what I do (when I'm using my onboard sound).
Btw, the above information is for obtaining stereo to your PC speakers and Hi-Fi only, as I didn't think you were talking about 5.1 or DD sound!
Good Luck and let us know how you get on!
Axel

Apple computer and video file Compatibility

I have encountered a problem playing videos purchased starting a few months ago.
It appears that poor play back is a result of my CPU being less than a 1.0 GHz, a newly stated minimum requirement, I think came with iTunes 7.
It appears to me that the only reason cpu speed, would impact play back is that iTunes has designed this effect into the files. This does not make sense to me and I am at a loss as to why they would do that.
I have found that closing all applications and playing in Quicktime, works for now on my PB 867.
However, I have no faith however that the next version of iTunes, or Quicktime or the downloaded files will not have a newly introduced "feature", again causing Apple to say that you must "simply" upgrade your computer.
Buying into iTunes really does make you vulnerable on several fronts to the whims of Apple and requires a huge amount of wishful thinking and trust that what works today will not be made un workable tomorrow.
A painful realization and addition to the negative column as I weigh purchasing a new computer for my mother, much less able to sort these things out.
It would be nice if someone has some information that could shed a different light on this circumstance.
Cheers

It appears to me that the only reason cpu speed, would impact play back is that iTunes has designed this effect into the files.
No, they didn't, at least not as part of some sort of deliberate effort to get you to upgrade. Videos and movies from the iTunes Store are encoded with the new H.264 codec. This codec can yield much better quality at a lower file size than can other video codecs such as the most common MPEG-2, but decoding H.264 takes more processing power. Hence the minimum CPU requirement; it just takes that fast a system to decode the content smoothly. In some cases with a system with close specs, you may be able to get adequate playback if all other applications and processes are shut down (as with iTunes vs. QuickTime; iTunes takes up a bit more of the processor for it's other functions), but it's always going to be iffy if you're right at the edge of the system requirements.
You're going to see this sort of thing on any computer system; better quality video requires higher-power systems, no matter what platform you're running on (Windows Media Player recommends 1.5Ghz).
Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

Why won't ipad play music or video files?!

This started suddenly. Music and videos will load but not move at all (jumps right back to pause as soon as I hit play.) I know they are loaded because I can jump to different frames of video but neither will move at all. Other apps are also snarled (This American Life keeps quitting as soon as I go to certain screens.)
Have I mentioned that I wish I just bought another PC? Same BS, twice the cost...

Try this and see if it helps.
Quit all apps in the recents tray completely and reboot the iPad. Go to the home screen first by tapping the home button. Double tap the home button and the recents tray will appear with all of your recent apps displayed at the bottom. Tap and hold down on any app icon until it begins to wiggle. Tap the minus sign in the upper left corner of the app that you want to close. Tap the home button or anywhere above the task bar.
Reboot the iPad by holding down on the sleep and home buttons at the same time for about 10-15 seconds until the Apple Logo appears - ignore the red slider if it appears on the screen - let go of the buttons. Let the iPad start up.

Why does my old apple id pop up when i text

I changed my apple ID to a new email and now when I text the old apple ID pops up. No rhyme or reason to it, randomly. I've gone through everything I can find/think of and changed to my new apple ID but still this old one appears.
Why does apple make everything so connected until you need things to be connected? I wish that there had been an automatic update to my iphone and ipad when i changed my apple ID email. You literally have to go through hoops for all your stuff. blergh.
thanks if you have any answers!

You need to re-sign in with your new Apple ID?
iOS: Changing the signed-in iTunes Store account
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1311

Why is my old apple id being used when I try to update on app store?

My original apple id was an old email account which I didn't often use and because of my lack of usage the email address expired without me knowing, so I changed my apple id and password etc in "manage my account" and when purchasing new app's all is fine, I'm able to purchase and log in using my new email addy, however when I'm prompted I have updates waiting and I press update, my old apple id (email addy) is brought up which I can no longer access as the email verification is going to the old email addy which no longer exsists!
My Iphone and Ipad all show apple id as new email etc the problem only arises when I try updating.
Please help this is driving me insane and my updates are stuck!
thanks

Hi DashyEdge,
When you say you "changed my apple id", does that mean you renamed it to your new email address?
See "How to change the name you use for your Apple ID"
That is what you want to do so you still only have one Apple ID and it now has the new name and email.
It sounds like you may have created a new Apple ID instead and started purchasing stuff with that. Just because an old email address expires, doesn't mean the Apple ID it is based on goes away. Apple IDs can't be deleted. The only way for them to change is to rename them to a new "ID" (name/email).
It is best to stay with only one Apple ID for purchases. As you are seeing, Apps need to be updated with the ID they were purchased with. If you don't have many purchases with your new Apple ID, you might want to rename it to something else so you can rename your old ID to this new name (email). Then stick with your old, but renamed ID.
You don't remember the password for your old Apple ID? Can you access your old Apple ID using the security questions instead of the email verification?
See also http://www.apple.com/support/appleid/
ivan

Why poor quality AIC & Apple ProRes HQ video when compared to original video files!

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