Washed out, low quality exports

Question

Level 1

0 points

Washed out, low quality exports

I am using iMovie 09, also tried 08 and tried several video files from different cameras. Files are not HD, but it seems no matter how I export them, the result looks washed out, with very little detail compared to the original. If I use software on my pc to export a video in same formats, the resulting quality loss is not even noticeable. This is very frustrating, I would love to use iMovie's new features.
Formats i tried importing:
DV, AVI, MP4 at 720X480 and 640 X 480
Formats i tried exporting:
Share>export>large h.264
Share>export using quicktime>AVI with Cinepack, best quality, millions of colors, up to 12000kbps
Share>export using quicktime>DV

Is everybody getting this problem or is it just me? i tried different macbooks and different source files. Movies being edited are for storing on computer, not dvd burning.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Mar 17, 2009 7:03 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Mar 17, 2009 7:28 PM in response to fifaigor

Are you using the color correction?

Reply

Answer 2

Serhij

Level 1

65 points

Mar 17, 2009 10:37 PM in response to fifaigor

In terms of interlaced DV you are loosing details due export. This is well known issue. Look for Steven workaround.

Reply

Answer 3

fifaigor Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 18, 2009 7:30 PM in response to fifaigor

Hey guys, I did not do any color correction, but the video is interlaced. I am not familiar with Steven's workaround so a link would be helpful. Just so you have an idea what I am referring too, heres a screenshot.
http://gallery.me.com/fifaigor#100162/Picture%201&bgcolor=black
Leftmost video is original, the one on right is .avi export at highest quality settings(5 times the size of original clip) and bottom is m4v as quicktime default. May need to download the image to see the quality difference.

Reply

Answer 4

Serhij

Level 1

65 points

Mar 19, 2009 3:58 AM in response to fifaigor

I really wonder how do you get interlaced video from iM 09 (in fact the screenshot is very small to see if exported video is interlaced :-/). In general, there are a lot of discussions how to get it and one of the receipt described here http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9128218#9128218

I suppose that you source file is in DV format. From here I can say that you export movie to format different to DV and as result of it colorspace of video were conterted.
AVI, MOV, M4V - all of them are just containers for audio and video, and most important information is which codec were used due export.
It looks for me that yours avi file lost many color details due to low color depth (256 colors) thats why it become "posterized".
In the same time m4v file looks more natural in color terms with not enought bitrate for details (blurring effect). You can adjust colors in it by playing with color filter in QT settings due export.
Check out which codec used by pressing command+j in QT player and post screenshot here.

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 19, 2009 4:31 PM in response to fifaigor

Additional things to try:
Increase gamma by 5% using color correction

If using iDvd go to project properties and choose professional quality encoding.

Reply

Answer 6

Mar 20, 2009 5:17 PM in response to fifaigor

Don't use Apple h.264 as it has a well know gamma bug. Use the x264 codec -- google it.

Reply

Answer 7

fifaigor Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 20, 2009 9:02 PM in response to Serhij

Hey guys, thanks for the great amount of responses. I just realized that in the previous post I said that the video was interlaced, while meaning to type deinterlaced, sorry for the confusion there. It is deinterlaced and thats how it came out of the camera.
Today, I also just tried exporting the file as DV, which is from my knowledge not supposed to have much quality loss at all. Well, the results were similar to the previous, the number of colors seemed much lower, you can literally see the boxes/lines as colors transition from one to another. A significant amount of detail has also been lost.
As AppleMan and Steve said, I tried adjusting the color on mpeg4 exports, that helps with the washed out issue, but the blurring effect is still there.
Serhij, when I exported the AVI, I had the option of millions of colors selected, although i know it looks as if its 256. Anyways, you guys think iMovie is just not handling the source file really well and thats causing these bad exports even in DV? I really dont know what else I can change to make this work since nobody else seems to be experiencing this.

Here are the movie properties from quicktime for source file:
http://gallery.me.com/fifaigor#100162/Picture%203&bgcolor=black

Reply

Answer 8

fifaigor Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 20, 2009 9:25 PM in response to Steve Mullen

Also another thing I noticed, when exported as DV, the detail does not seem to be lost the way that it is in mpeg4, it just seems like there arent enough colors and I can see those transitions between colors. I couldnt find a setting however to change colors when exporting DV.

Reply