ChrisFig

Q: Compressor's m2v file pulsates / artifacts

We are a wedding video production company in NYC who lately has had a recurring issue with Compressor.

 

We are on a Mac Pro 2 X 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon running OS 10.6.8 using Final Cut 7.0.3 and Compressor 3.5.3.

 

It seems that when ever we are exporting an m2v file using any of the of presets such as DVD Best Quality 120 mins, 150 mins, or Auto, the image begins to artifact or pulsate after 90 mins when there is very active dancing taking place.  And it's only during the fast paced dancing after 90 mins.  The pulsating occurs for amount 5 seconds continously and then stops for a couple seconds and then starts again.  It's an usable file.

 

We never had an issue the first six months we had this exact setup and now it's happening all the time.

 

Any thoughts on why that is?  Any feedback is appreciated.  Thank you.

 

Without Artifacts

 

Compressor-Artifact-0.jpg

WITH ARTIFACTS

Compressor-Artifact.jpg

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 27, 2011 7:38 AM

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Q: Compressor's m2v file pulsates / artifacts

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  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Oct 27, 2011 7:47 AM in response to ChrisFig
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2011 7:47 AM in response to ChrisFig

    Basic stuff.  You gotta give us some info if we're gonna be of any help.

     

    What format are you shooting in?  What are your sequence settings?  Are you fully rendering in fcp and then exporting a selfcontained quicktime with current settings (recommended)?  If so, do you see the artifacts in this quicktime before compression?

  • by ChrisFig,

    ChrisFig ChrisFig Oct 27, 2011 7:56 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2011 7:56 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    Format: AVCHD

    Frame Size:  1920 X 1080 (HDTV 1080i 16:9)

    Pixel Aspect Ratio:  Square

    Field Dominance:  None

    Timebase:  29.97

    Compressor:  Apple ProRes 422

    Quality: 100%

    Audio:  48 kHz, 16-bit, channel grouped

     

    Whether we send to Compressor as a self-contained QT or not, the artifacting still happens during the dancing.  We've tried both ways.  And the QT's never had any artifactings.  It's only been the m2v file.  We also upload every wedding video to our website exporting the video as an Uncompressed QT using Compressor and then converting them to MP4 files using Handbrake, and these files play perfectly with no artifacting.

  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Oct 27, 2011 8:04 AM in response to ChrisFig
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2011 8:04 AM in response to ChrisFig

    First, have you tried using the 90 minute preset (I know, your show may be too long, but try it as a test)? 

     

    Is it just a question of greater movement in these areas, or is there also lower light? 

     

    Have you tried assigning compression markers in fcp and exporting so they are included in the quictime?  This will assign a higher bitrate for these sections and might help.

     

    You might try playing with the scaling parameters in compressor in the frame controls. 

     

    I'd suggest you do a test dvd with a number of short clips playing with variables in the compressor presets.  Remember you can customize your presets and name them (and make sure the resulting output files include the preset name in the file name) to approach this in a methodical manner.

  • by ChrisFig,

    ChrisFig ChrisFig Oct 27, 2011 8:15 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2011 8:15 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    All of our videos over 90 mins have been the issue, so we've never tried the 90 min preset.

     

    There's certainly greater movement and lower light.  It's typically the night time dancing.

     

    I'm not sure compression markers would be helpful since the artifacting take place over 30 mins of footage.  That'd be a lot of markers.  Hundreds of them.

     

    I've just gone into "Frame Controls"  and changed everything to:

     

    Compressor-Artifact-2.jpg

    Is this the part of compressor's setting I should be playing with the most?

  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Oct 27, 2011 8:24 AM in response to ChrisFig
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2011 8:24 AM in response to ChrisFig

    Yup, this is what you should be playing with. 

     

    And try the 90 minute preset on a problematic section.  We'll at least know that the problem is insufficient bitrate.

     

    If this fixes the problem, you might consider breaking up your final show into different sections and compressing with different presets.

     

    You might also consider burning dual layer dvd's.  I don't recommend it as they tend to have more compatibility problems, but you might do some tests.  The other solution is to deliver as a 2 dvd set.

     

    There are also some other compression solutions out there. 

     

    Bitvice and Sorenson Squeeze for example.  Neither of them are cheap, but if they solve the problem...

     

    I've got both and I'd be willing to do a test compression for you (I'm in NY also.  My email's in my profile).

     

    Good luck.

  • by ChrisFig,

    ChrisFig ChrisFig Oct 27, 2011 8:52 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2011 8:52 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    Ok. Going to try "DVD: Best Quality Auto"  with the revised Frame Controls.

     

    Let's see if this works.  I'll let you know in 5 hours.

     

    If it doesn't.  I'll move down the list of your recommendations.  And thanks for offering to do a test compression. We'll see if that'll be necessary.

  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Oct 27, 2011 8:57 AM in response to ChrisFig
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2011 8:57 AM in response to ChrisFig

    why 5 hours?  You can mark an in and out in the preview window in compressor and just test a small section.

  • by ChrisFig,

    ChrisFig ChrisFig Oct 27, 2011 8:59 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2011 8:59 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    Whenver I test the small sections.  There's never any artifacting.  It's only when export the entire video over 90 mins that the artificating occurs.

  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Oct 27, 2011 9:04 AM in response to ChrisFig
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2011 9:04 AM in response to ChrisFig

    You might also try a high quality single pass vbr and cbr.   These are in the encoder pane:  quality

  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Oct 27, 2011 9:06 AM in response to ChrisFig
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2011 9:06 AM in response to ChrisFig

    Wait a second.  So if you do say a 5 minute section which includes both non dancing and dancing sections using one of the longer (120 or 150 minute) presets, you still see the problem?  Doesn't make sense to me.

  • by ChrisFig,

    ChrisFig ChrisFig Oct 27, 2011 9:07 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2011 9:07 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    I could for the test run.  But for final delivery of DVD's I use the Two-Pass VBR Best.

  • by ChrisFig,

    ChrisFig ChrisFig Oct 27, 2011 9:15 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2011 9:15 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    If I only export a 5 min section, there will never be any artifacting regardless of preset, dancing, or non-dancing.

     

    The artifacting only appears on exports of 90 mins or longer.  So testing a 5 minute section doesn't help.

  • by Michael Grenadier,

    Michael Grenadier Michael Grenadier Oct 27, 2011 9:24 AM in response to ChrisFig
    Level 7 (20,362 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2011 9:24 AM in response to ChrisFig

    hmmm.   I would assume that something in the second pass is reducing the bitrate in that section. 

  • by ChrisFig,

    ChrisFig ChrisFig Oct 27, 2011 9:46 AM in response to Michael Grenadier
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2011 9:46 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

    That's interesting.  So I should try a One-Pass VBR Best?

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