SamWelch

Q: FCE Jumpy Transitions on Exported HD Product Only

Hello everyone. I am normally a forum-stalker who never contributes but I have spent a significant amount of time unsuccessfully researching this problem.

 

I just purchased a GoPro Hero 3 camera and filmed under the 720 30fps setting. I imported several clips to my laptop and proceeded to open FCE 4.0.1 which I have been using for a few years. I mistakenly did NOT change any of the settings under Easy Setup before spending quite a while editing my first HD video ever. I was also editing using H.264 m4ps. I know. After an embarassing amount of rendering, I exported the clip and realized that while the editing turned out great, it was set to 720 x 480 the whole time and the quality was not what I was looking forward to.

 

After complaining extensively to my wife, who politely nodded while completely ignoring me, I eventually sat down to re-edit the whole clip. First I used MPEG Streamclip to convert all the files to AIC coded .mov files. Then I imported the clips and compared all of the item properties of the clips (1280x720, 29.97 fps, AIC) with those of the sequence (the same). I then begrudgingly remade my lovely Christmas video all over again, cut by cut. I needed to do significanly less rendering, which was lovely, but still rendered all the green lines away before watching the whole video in the canvas. It looked perfect. I then exported it, self-contained QuickTime Movie. I finally had my first HD video, but then I watched it. All of the transitions (and only the transitions) are terrible: the clips zoom in and out abruptly during all of the fade-in/outs as well as the cross-dissolves. The brightness and saturation changes as well, blatantly noticeable flickers, just during the transitions. I uploaded an example to https://vimeo.com/56495362. That's a random part of one of the clips I was using, first cutting from one clip to another with no transition (seemlessly) then a copy of the same two clips with a (laughable) cross-dissolve in between. It's not hard to see what I'm talking about.

 

I have tried to search to the ends of the internet. 90% of the problems people report with transitions are solved by using longer handles. I assure you this is not the case. 9% seem to be solved by rendering before exporting, also not a problem. The remaining 1% seem to be cured with a quick deletion of Final Cut Express preferences, which I also attempted unsuccessfully. That covers 100% of the transition problems that I have been able to find on the forums. I even gave up and tried resetting my computer. No luck.

 

As a test, I went back to my original (standard definition) product, changed the sequence settings to AIC 720 30fps and re-exported it. Though all of the aspect ratios were warped, the transitions were fine. Then I added another clip at the end of that original sequence, with a transition, and that transition was messed up.

 

Basically, if the sequence settings and the clip settings don't match, the transitions are great but the aspect ratio or the zoom is messed up. If they do match, the video is beautiful - as long as there are no transitions. Please help.

 

Surely I am missing something relatively obvious?

Final Cut Express, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Dec 29, 2012 10:30 PM

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Q: FCE Jumpy Transitions on Exported HD Product Only

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Alchroma,

    Alchroma Alchroma Dec 30, 2012 12:41 AM in response to SamWelch
    Level 6 (19,036 points)
    Video
    Dec 30, 2012 12:41 AM in response to SamWelch

    Can you post a screen shot of both the sequence and clip properties?

    Right click a clip in the Browser and select Item Properties.

    Do the same thing for the Sequence in the Browser.

    If you can't post a screen shot relay all the details.

     

    If you had to render your transcoded clips in the Canvas there is a mis-match somewhere.

     

    Al

  • by SamWelch,

    SamWelch SamWelch Dec 30, 2012 6:35 AM in response to Alchroma
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 30, 2012 6:35 AM in response to Alchroma

    To clarify, I only had to render the first time when there was clearly a mismatch. Since I have edited my second video (second version of the same video) I had only to render a few transitions.

     

    That being said, here are the screen shots.

    Clip Properties.jpg

     

    Sequence Properties.jpg

     

    The only difference that I can see is under "Aud Format". I am definitely not an audio guy (and I'm learning that I'm not a video guy either), but I didn't think that should make a difference. I used none of the audio from any of my video clips, just one aiff song over the whole sequence.

  • by Meg The Dog,

    Meg The Dog Meg The Dog Dec 30, 2012 1:00 PM in response to SamWelch
    Level 6 (11,158 points)
    Video
    Dec 30, 2012 1:00 PM in response to SamWelch

    Have you tried trashing your preferences? The usual first step when FC behaves in unexpected ways is to trash preferences.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2611?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

     

    You can download Preference Manager from Digital Rebellion (free) and it will do the trashing for you -

     

    http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/

     

     

    MtD

  • by Alchroma,

    Alchroma Alchroma Dec 30, 2012 3:42 PM in response to SamWelch
    Level 6 (19,036 points)
    Video
    Dec 30, 2012 3:42 PM in response to SamWelch

    Looks Ok to me as well.

     

    If MTDs' suggestions do not help try switching the field dominace from None to Upper everywhere.

    Do a short test clip.

     

    Al

  • by SamWelch,

    SamWelch SamWelch Dec 31, 2012 6:47 AM in response to SamWelch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2012 6:47 AM in response to SamWelch

    UPDATE

     

    So here's something that I never expected: it looks like the problem is in QuickTime. Sorry for the false alarm (?). I found this out by taking my full Christmas.mov file (the jumpy, blood-pressure raising export) and opening it in MPEG Streamclip. I was going to convert it to .m4p because that's how I usually show people the clip, via my PS3 on the television. I figured I would convert it over and see if everything stayed jumpy.

     

    Not only was the .m4p NOT jumpy at all, the .mov wasn't jumpy in MPEG Streamclip! This is certainly beyond my level: apparently some of the "behind the scenes" editing, like, apparently, transition in and out points, is retained in the .mov and exposed in QT.

     

    If this is the case, does anyone have any suggestions for how I should show the clip when I'm on my computer (not PS3)? Should I just convert every completed movie I make into an MPEG-4 for my PS3 AND use the .m4p to play it on my computer as well? Is there loss of quality associated with this? I liked having the lack of options when exporting a .mov file from FCE, but I don't mind just exporting an MPEG, as long as I'm confident I'm putting the right thing into options like "data rate" etc.

     

    I hope this helps anyone else who has this problem.

  • by Meg The Dog,

    Meg The Dog Meg The Dog Dec 31, 2012 8:56 AM in response to SamWelch
    Level 6 (11,158 points)
    Video
    Dec 31, 2012 8:56 AM in response to SamWelch

    Launch QuickTime 7, and go to the menu QuickTime Player 7 > Preferences.

    Is Use high-quality video setting when available checked on?

     

    SafariScreenSnapz002.png

     

    MtD

  • by tolam,Helpful

    tolam tolam Jan 1, 2013 8:09 AM in response to SamWelch
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 1, 2013 8:09 AM in response to SamWelch

    Hi everyone;

     

    I seem to have the same problem here (and unfortunately no solution) but some interesting observations that add to the weirdness... My setup is pretty much the same as Sam's (FCE 4.0.1, Mac OS 10.6.8., Quicktime Player 10.0, Quicktime Pro 7.6.6), except that i work with AIC 1280x720 25p.

     

    The jumpy zooms that Sam described do not show up when watching the exported video with the quicktime 7 player, although the brightness issues are still there. Also, the problems seem not to be limited to transitions. In my exported .mov file they also show up with superimposed titles, and even plain cutting from a colour-corrected clip to an untouched clip is affected.

     

    There are no problems when watching the same .mov file in MPEG Streamclip. I wonder if the .mov file that FCE puts out is usable for burning on BluRay or uploading to youtube or whatever...