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Interlacing/combing on HDV QT export, worsened with Compressor H.264

Greetings,


I have created a 10 minute video of a child moving back and forth against a black background. The material is HDV, captured and edited as HDV in FCP 7 with Pro-Res renders, and exported as QT using "Current Settings." In the exported QT, I see that the material is interlaced, although the "combing" effect of the interlacing isn't terribly noticeable. (although I'd rather have NO interlacing without affecting resolution.)


But Then, the final output of the video is intended for a wireless media player, playing the movie as a data file. I was told the media player needed a .mov file encoded with H.264 compression. When I do this, the interlacing/combing becomes REALLY apparent on the edges of anything moving in the video-- and is especially amplified becaise the child is against black-- so the limbs and edges of the kid look really jagged.


Currently I am exporting two 5-minute QT's that need to be put together with additional elements to make up the final 10 minute piece. I am putting both 5 min QT's into another HDV sequence before my final QT export. Would I have any initial success in not having interlaced edges if I put those two QT's into a ProRes sequence instead? And if so, would it be ProRes 422 HQ 1080i? Or would changing the setting to "P" help get rid of the interlacing, and keep all the digital information?


OR, should I try to get rid of the interlacing in Compressor? As I said, when I tried this initially, the "combing" got worse.

The settings I used in Compressor were:

Compression H.264, leaving size and data rate and key frames all "current/automatic" (compression set to "best")

Frame Controls set to "on"

Output fields "same as source"

De-interlace set to "best"

Adaptive details checked.


The video is playing on a 42 inch flat panel monitor and WD a Live Plus media player.

I think the monitor is 1080p?? Perhaps I need to get rid of the interlacing because it is a flatscreen, progressive monitor?


Thanks for your help. It is currently playing on the above equipment at the gallery and looks terrible so I need to fix asap.


Amy

Macbook Pro 17", Mac OS X (10.5.8), FCP 7, Motion 4

Posted on Feb 5, 2013 12:21 PM

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Posted on Feb 5, 2013 12:43 PM

Try changing the output in compressor to progressive (not output fields "same as source.") and see if that helps. Also, what are your source pixel dimensions? If they're not 1980x1080, make the resizing filter in compressor "best" Remember that you can do a test of a short section in compressor by setting an in and out in the preview window.


That said, I've found HDV particularly problematic with interlacing.

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Feb 5, 2013 12:43 PM in response to Amy Jenkins

Try changing the output in compressor to progressive (not output fields "same as source.") and see if that helps. Also, what are your source pixel dimensions? If they're not 1980x1080, make the resizing filter in compressor "best" Remember that you can do a test of a short section in compressor by setting an in and out in the preview window.


That said, I've found HDV particularly problematic with interlacing.

Feb 5, 2013 1:07 PM in response to Michael Grenadier

Thank you Michael. I did try "progressive" output first, with "Better" (instead of "Best") and it looked worse, there was a odd line throught the whole video occassionally, about 1/3 of the way down from the top-- perhaps a "pull-down" issue? Not sure.


Source pixed dimensions are 1440 x 1080i, as it is a Canon HDV camera that shoots with anamorphic compression to tape. But as I understand it, the display is 1920 x 1080. In QT export from FCP, I am using "Current settings" (HDV sequence preset.)

In Compressor I have left all "same as source." Would it improve to change it to 1920 x 1080?


I had this problem before, when exporting for SD DVD, but managed to solve it with Compressor making a Mv2 file. Not having luck this time with the H.264.


Wondering if there is something I can do with Codec Sequence settings prior to export (pos-edit.)

Feb 5, 2013 2:31 PM in response to Amy Jenkins

If you want to send me a short HDV clip with the problem, I'll take a look and see if I can figure anything out.


my email is mgrenadier@gmail.com


I'm crazy busy, so no promises...


I kinda figure that square pixels (1920x1080) is the way to go so that there are no issues with quicktime displaying it differently than the source, but what do I know...

Feb 6, 2013 7:24 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

Thank you, Michael.

My source is supposed to be 1440 x 1080i, because it is HDV, which uses amorphic pixels for compression. But I did just reset my output size to be 1920 x 1080 (I had thought that it would do it automatically, because that is supposed to be the automatic display size for HDV.)


But in any case, I reset and I am recompressing right now with the new settings, it may be all day/evening before it is done as it says 11 hours! (I have everything set to "best")

Feb 10, 2013 12:49 PM in response to Amy Jenkins

Michael,


I just wanted to sum up what I ended up doing, for others folowing the post:


So I did three tests, and I will post settings and results below. Setting the de-interlace to "progressive" did do the trick, the "combing" effect went away.

User uploaded file



The settings above, with H.264 codec, and leaving size/frame rate etc. as same as source, gave the best results visually in picture. Playback was good, I saw one or two tiny "skips" like a little stutter, barely noticeable. Quality was set to "best." This was only a 3-miute clip of the 10 minute piece, and render times were over 11 hours. So when I do the whole piece I'm wondering if I should adjust any of the settings. I'd like to get just as good of results but with less render time. Any ideas?


Thank you again,


Amy

Interlacing/combing on HDV QT export, worsened with Compressor H.264

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