Exporting HD movie using Quicktime Conversion

I am having problems getting good quality movies from my edited AVCHD camera files. What I want is to get exported clips as MP4 movies at 1080i, (60 fields per second). I use both FCE "Export using QuickTime conversion" and MPEG streamclip (with AIC files as source). From FCE I use the H.264 compressor, and from streamclip I can choose either H.264 or Apple MP4 compressors.

I want to feed the TV 1080i so that the deinterlacing is done by the TV. I use WD TV Live media player and a Sony BDP-S370 to play the files.

When using the WD TV Live I set the output to 1080i/60Hz. When I play the clips, about 50% of the time I get an excellent result: smooth motion, clean edges on moving object. The other 50% of the time there is severe double-image at the moving edges. By pausing and resuming, the playback changes from the "good" mode to the "bad" or vice-versa. This happens regardless of which file I use (FCE, Streamclip H.264 or Apple MP4).

When using the Sony Blu-Ray player, the Streamclip Apple MP4 compressor show the same effect, but the H.264 files are consistent, but show soft edges.

Here is what a "good" image looks like:
http://yfrog.com/fvimg15450j

Examples of the double-edges:
http://yfrog.com/2fimg1548fj
http://yfrog.com/bcimg1549vj
http://yfrog.com/04img1550yj

(Note: the above are taken from still-frame images on the TV. When played, the double images jitter>)

I have been in contact with WD support about this, but I'm not sure it is their problem since a similar thing happens on the Sony.

Details of my export setup can be found here:
http://yfrog.com/31fceqtexportp

Mac Mini 2.53GHz Intel Duo, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 1, 2010 4:34 PM

Reply
7 replies

Dec 3, 2010 3:03 PM in response to Gerald Pressman

The double images look like cheapo deinterlacing.

1. Did you shoot interlaced, edit interlaced, and now want to view interlaced?
That should be OK. You probably don't want the TV to deinterlace...better
to keep it interlaced.

2. Try connecting your computer directly to your TV:

2a. Are there problems when you play the AIC files?
2b. Are there problems when you play the H.264 files?

Dec 3, 2010 6:47 PM in response to stuckfootage

Thank you for your reply

"The double images look like cheapo deinterlacing" There should be no deinterlacing involved except as done by the TV. The TV is a 1080p LCD and has no problem handling any other 1080i source. In fact, it does an excellent job, and that is one reason I want to feed the TV 1080i. If I use FCE to de-interlace, I get 1080/30p out, while the TV will display 1080/60p if I feed it 1080/60i. Also note that the result is inconsistent--sometimes I get excellent moving images, but about half the time I get the double-image at the moving edges.

"Try connecting your computer directly to your TV" Do you mean using the TV as a monitor? This is possible, but the monitor output will be progressive. I do not have a problem viewing the movies on the computer monitor.

Dec 4, 2010 3:11 AM in response to Gerald Pressman

Probably nobody knows what is causing the trouble.

Your info is pretty much what I use, except I never use more than 10,000kbps and usually just 5,000kbps. This is fine for me because I don't have much fast motion.

Maybe the WD can't handle 20,000kbps which is fairly high or maybe your storage devices are slow.

Are your movies on a USB 2.0 Hard Drive or a flash memory stick?

If a HD, is it powered from a transformer or from the computer's USB 2.0 socket?

If the latter, I would definitely put that at the top of my list of suspects.

Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

Jan 20, 2011 2:18 PM in response to Ian R. Brown

I use 20,000 kbs because at any lower bitrate I can see loss of quality. The camera's bitrate is 17.5 kbs. After a discussion I had with a videographer at the recent CES show, I got a Class 10 SD card (I had been using a Class 6). I still get the same results. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Is anyone else successfully shooting, editing and exporting HD without problems? If so, how do you do it?

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Exporting HD movie using Quicktime Conversion

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