Search results matching tag 'quality'

Bad quality/stripes... why?

alvette — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:32:33 GMT

I've had this problem previously also with Avid Xpress pro, so I truly don't know what's wrong!

In the Export the film just looks horrible!! Have little stripes all over, especially in fast movements. I've used the 25i pal option and exported in interlaced. I'm using Panasonic DVX100ae PAL camera. I tried to import the same footage in windows media composer, and it looks absolutely fine!

Does anybody know what could be wrong? Please help!! I'm doing a job for somebody and getting paid, so I really need to get some work done!

Thanks., Alvette

Expanding Library of Media Composer Tutorials

drbgaijin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:40:12 GMT

I am a relative newcomer to Media Composer (early 2008) and as I began to feel my way around I got the idea of documenting my adventures by creating short video tutorials,
Avid had already a large number of excellent, professionally produced tutorials online.
I learned very much from watching them. However I sometimes felt that newcomers like myself needed a much more basic approach to many of the things that were being taken for granted.

The first 20 or so tutorials were specifically made to help migrants from Avid/Pinnacle Liquid. However, many of those contain tips that can be useful to any newcomers.

The two main points that I have learned since arriving here are:

1. Media Composer has many, many ways of achieving a given result. My tutorials usually show only 1 of them. Be flexible and experiment for yourself. Nothing is set in stone.

2. If you are coming from a different NLE family, try and leave your old workflows behind you.
Don't try and figure out how to emulate them in MC.
The sooner you begin to accept the MC way, the sooner you will get up to speed and discover its flexibility.
It took me only 14 days before I completely stopped using Liquid.

SEE ALL THE TUTORIALS HERE on the MEDIA COMPOSER - PC FORUM

The tutorial page is, as the title above says, "Expanding".
Please drop in every now and then to see what has been added!

Hope you find something useful.

Regards,
Douglas

Best Export Settings -HDV Avid - AE (Magic Bullet Frames) - Avid

greenways2 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:27:20 GMT

Hi there, After searching like crazy on the forums, I found many life saving answers for the project I'm working on but a little stuck on whether I'm doing it right. Whoever can answer this is a LEGEND! (I tried to be overly detailed)

I have a project which is mixed PAL DV 25i and HDV 1080 50i which I have captured separately in different projects according to their resolutions (SD and HDV). I then externally opened the DV footage bin from within the HDV project and started cutting the video into a new sequence. The reason I did this is because I couldnt capture both the HDV and DV footage into the same project. Does this negatively affect the resolution of the DV footage?

Once I had cut the sequence I wanted to export to After Effects to apply the Magic Bullet Frames plugin. So of course I had to do a video mixdown to export as a QT ref because of the HDV footage. I did this and exported but the native dimensions export says 1920x1080. Isnt HDV 1440x1080? Once I had exported as a QT ref (in 1920x1080), I opened in After effects. When interpreting the footage, I wasnt sure what to choose so just selected square pixels there was no 1.777 aspect ratio choice. I then dragged the interpreted footage to a new comp to create it.

I applied magic bullet frames with upper field first selected (was this right - keeping in mind original footage was mixed) and when adding to render queue I chose QT Movie with DNxHD compressor set at 1080p DNxHD 120 (the same as the video mixdown setting before in avid). I then import the clip back into avid in a new project - a 1080p project. Importing as a DNxHD 120. Looking at replica still frames from the original footage compared with those of the new 1080p imported clip (in fullscreen mode and with a careful eye) There wasnt any noticable loss of quality. But playing down the imported clip seemed to be jittery in the DV parts. I wasnt sure if this was to do with computer performance tho (very fast PC system - dont have the specs with me at the moment).

Overall I want to apply the Magic bullet Looks effect back in the avid now (much easier in avid as there are so many fast different looking cuts and can apply to each clip rather than keyframes) and export for DVD and a file export to HD. Please if you can help me, not necessarily with all of it but at least suggest a good workflow.

Thanks!!!

Avid starts at Draft Quality

brianthegreen — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:56:22 GMT

Everytime I start up Avid MC 3.0 the video display setting is set at Draft Quality. I always have it at Full Quality, but for some reason this is a personal setting that I just can't get the program to save.

It's an unimportant thing, I know, but it's just annoying to have to remember to click that tiny green and yellow square every time you begin a session. Or am I missing something? I have already checked Help and the forum for answers.

How to avoid getting dropped frames during real-time playback of BCC RT filters in Avid Media Composer

Johnla — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:24:42 GMT

To achieve real-time playback of BCC AVX RT plug-ins without dropped frames, make sure your Avid project meets the following criteria:

- Use BCC filters from the BCC Real Time and BCC RT Static Textures categories in your Effect Palette.

- Select a lower playback quality from the 'Video Quality Menu' at the bottom of the Timeline window. Right click and select Draft Quality (yellow-green mode). This will also enable 8-bit processing during playback, which is faster than 10-bit processing (Full Quality).

- Make sure 'Real Time Update' is selected inside your Effect Editor settings.

- Open your Video Display settings and reduce the 'Stream Limit' value in Maximum Real Time Streams.

- Use the 'Expert Render' command on parts of the sequence where the system has difficulties during playback. The system marks these sections of the sequence in the Timeline. For more information, see the section in your Avid Help called "Using the ExpertRender Command After a Real-Time Playback Attempt".

- If possible, start playback earlier in the sequence, before the effects that cause difficulties. This allows the system to process some of the effect frames before displaying them, decreasing the chance of playback difficulties.

- If you still experience dropped frames, open your project's Video Display settings and set the 'Pre-Filled Frames' amount to a few seconds. This preloads the specified amount of video and can help if the system has trouble maintaining real-time playback.

- Use the Submaster Effect or Perform a Video Mixdown.

When should you preview BCC RT Effects in Full Quality
Some aspects of BCC AVX RT effects appear a bit different during real-time preview than non-real-time preview and final render. This is particularly true of effects using geometric distortions (Scale, Tumble, Spin, Rotate) and effects that blur and choke edges. While fine-tuning these parameters, it is recommended to change the Video Quality Menu to 'Full' (green-green) to check the quality before final rendering.

BCC RT Effects and Avid Titles
Note: BCC AVX RT filters are not fast enough to apply to Avid titles and play back in real-time. Therefore, the real-time version of BCC AVX filters do not include a Title Matte parameter group. Use the non-real-time version to apply to a title or matte.

Supported Real-Time Systems
The filters in the BCC AVX RT category play back in real-time on Avid systems with Adrenaline or Mojo hardware. BCC AVX RT filters apply, render and use presets the same way that BCC AVX filters do. The real-time filters are a subset of the existing filters.

Supported Real-Time Avid Hosts
Supported real-time systems include Xpress Pro 5.1.4 or later, and systems with Adrenaline hardware. Real-time playback is largely determined by the speed of the system hardware. These filters are intended to provide real-time Draft-Quality previews. You should render these filters before outputting to tape, even on systems with Mojo or Adrenaline hardware. You do not have to replace the real-time filters with the corresponding non-real-time filter. Simply render the real-time filter.

Supported Operating Systems and Hardware
The BCC AVX RT filters requires the following operating systems and hardware:

Windows

The BCC AVX RT plug-ins require a Pentium 3 or Pentium 4 processor running Windows XP® as well as Avid Adrenaline or Mojo hardware.

Macintosh

The BCC AVX RT plug-ins requires a Macintosh system running a minimum of Mac OS™ X 10.4.0 or above as well as Avid Adrenaline or Mojo hardware.

Important Notes on the BCC Real-time Effects
The real-time effect playback is largely determined by the speed of the system hardware.
Additionally, real-time playback depends on the settings you adjust in the effect. If you adjust multiple parameters, it is likely the effect will not play back in real-time. For example, if you apply blur and choke to a PixelChooser matte, the filter may require rendering. When you work with the real-time filters, the Fields menu only applies when you render the effect. It does not affect previews and playback. Although some real-time filters may include the Motion Tracker parameter groups, you should not use the real-time version of a filter to motion track. Use the non-real-time version.

Post by John Lafauce, Avid Customer Support Representative

Re: deep techie question

mBlaze — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:19:32 GMT

It only recompresses it if you add another composite layer before doing the mixdown. The same is true with a submaster effect - if you drop it over a master clip and do a render, it should just copy the media of the master clip into the submaster render.

Re: deep techie question

Chad — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:49:41 GMT

I'm pretty sure it 'copies' it. I did some difference matte tests in Photoshop a while ago to try and answer this very question, and the mixed-down and unmixed-down frames were identical (at least visually)

Anecdotally, the speed of mixing down rendered vs. unrendered effects would also support this conclusion - but I guess we'd need an Avid developer to see this thread before we get a definitive answer.

Uploading High Quality Video: For YouTube

malefunktion — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:53:46 GMT

This is a guide for getting high quality material from your Avid timeline, into MPEG Streamclip and then finally on to YouTube so that you can make use of their recent "High Quality" feature.

It is my first ever video tutorial and runs for 18mins encompassing the whole process.

Take the time to pause the guide when asked, and read the slides/stills prior to the video section. They do contain relevant information.

Encoding High Quality Video: For YouTube

malefunktion — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:33:53 GMT

This is a guide for getting high quality material from your Avid timeline, into MPEG Streamclip and then finally on to YouTube so that you can make use of their "Watch In High Quality" feature.

Take the time to pause the guide and read each of the slides/stills prior to the video section as they do contain relevant information.

Addendum/Update (27-11-08):

Widescreen YouTube?

YouTube have recently introduced a 16:9 video player on their pages. This has brought a couple of pros and cons.

The main advantage is that native 16:9 material (640x360 / 854x480 etc...) now looks much better without letterboxing. Also, 16:9 material in 720p can now be uploaded and accessed as stated below.

The big disadvantage is that the "Watch in High Quality" link which worked brilliantly in the old 4:3 player, doesn't look all that great in the new 640x360 frame.

Videos uploaded in appropriate 640x360, 854x480, or 1024x576 sizes are compressed by YouTube down to 480x270 (which was fine in their old 480x360 player) and then resized during playback to fit the new 16:9 640x360 frame. This resizing process now blurs all encodes.

The only exception to this rule is if you upload 720p material 1280x720 with a good bitrate of around 5000Kb/s. If you upload this sort of file, you'll be able to access SUPER-CRISP 720p material by appending the video's URL link with &fmt=22.

Addendum/Update (25-11-08):

H264 vs MPEG4 Compressors & 720P HD?

You can safely use EITHER the Apple MPEG4 or H264 compressors to ensure the best possible visual quality you can manage (Adding now that you need to DE-SELECT B-Frames if using H264 compression).

It appears, as of 25-11-08 that YouTube now use a default 16:9 video player. This new player is a 640x360 size, so make sure any 16:9 material meets this resolution. 4:3 material retains its ratio but will pillarbox (and in some cases, letter box slightly below).

For adventurous types, you can upload 720p HD material and YouTube will recompress a 720p version (though not make it visually available by default as yet - you have to paste &fmt=22 into the video's URL).

Should you wish to "future proof" any HD material on YouTube, use these settings:

Compressor: H264 - Select Multipass & De-select B-Frames
Frame Size: 1280x720 (Better downscaling ON if sourcing from 1080i or 1080p footage)
Bitrate: Between 4000 & 6000Kb/s should work. (I've yet to confirm anything other than 5000Kb/s which I have tested.)

Uploading 720p suitable material direct to YouTube will ensure that any and all versions they currently create, will successfully be made, whilst preserving material for any future YouTube 720p default playback.

The Guide:

If the community video embedding feature is not working, you won't see the tutorial here. You will instead have to visit the dedicated Videos section to view it.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

You can also find the guide (split into two parts) on YouTube in *cough* High Quality - here.

You can also see examples of standard HQ YouTube material embedded in a personal web page - here.

You can also view a 720p HD YouTube video embedded in another personal web page - here.

color/quality loss when in play

Milco — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:59:45 GMT

I have a major problem. I'm shooting a doc using a sony hvr a1 camera with the cineframe25 option. I made a new 25i project but when I import the material it looks fine only if it's not in play. the moment I press play it loses some color and I think it also looses the cineframe effect. it's as is a greyish layer was added to the video. it's much less shiny and colorful. when i press stop again it goes back to how it's supposed to look. any idea what this could be? please help