FCP>>Bad GREEN SPOTS on exported file

[NP3]

When I export to 10-bit uncompressed form (Just the video) at the beginning of some of the clips there are random green spots (like errors or something) that flicker continuously across the screen. They last anywhere from 1 frame to up to 4 seconds. I have tried exporting just sections of the movie and I've exported several sections multiple times-however the green spots are ALWAYS in the same spots.

I'm doing a film montage of Precious Images throughout film history for the History of Motion Pictures class. What i did was rip lots and lots of dvds to mpeg2 and have 5 second clips of each one.

I edited the this film in mpeg2.-mainly so i wouldn't lose lots of quality. Switching to DV isn't an option for me. Please DON'T flame me on the legality of ripping dvds...this is purely educational.

Now, obviously these spots were not there in the timeline, and i thought that exporting as uncompressed would just group all of the video together & dump it. I've tried exporting to mpeg2 directly (this will eventually be burned on a dvd) however, there was a significant loss of quality (i guess because its essentially compressing to mpeg2 twice).

Any help would be greatly appreciated...i'm doing this for the teacher of the class...he's quite a perfectionist & i'm running out of time .

 

[LethalWolfe]

Did you get green spots when you exported to mpeg2? Exporting to 10-bit uncompressed is way pointless for what you are doing. If you started w/DVD and your final product is DVD, exporting to anything other than MPEG-2 is just an unneed step that is wasting your time. Just for future reference DV quality is significantly higher than DVD quality.

Have you tried exporting a FCP reference movie then compressing it to MPEG-2 in compressor?


Lethal

 

[NP3]

Have you tried exporting a FCP reference movie then compressing it to MPEG-2 in compressor?

Lethal

Humm good point...i haven't tried compressor yet...i'll do that.

Thanks for the corrections too. DV is higher quality than DVD quality? B/c i tried converting from mpeg2>>DV and it was way worse...or is that the same situation as converting directly from AAC to mp3...?

I did try exporting directly to mpeg2....but the quality came out really bad. I'll have to try that route again.

My goal is to have all the clips of the same quality as they were on the dvds.

Thanks

 

[LethalWolfe]

Humm good point...i haven't tried compressor yet...i'll do that.

Thanks for the corrections too. DV is higher quality than DVD quality? B/c i tried converting from mpeg2>>DV and it was way worse...or is that the same situation as converting directly from AAC to mp3...?

I did try exporting directly to mpeg2....but the quality came out really bad. I'll have to try that route again.

My goal is to have all the clips of the same quality as they were on the dvds.

Thanks

Yes, DVD has about 1/4 to 1/3 the bitrate of DV. One problem is your source material is a very compressed format to begin with (so it is harder to "tinker" w/it and get good results), but the quality you end up with should not be as bad as it sounds like it is. I've taken source material given to me on DVD, captured it on my G4 as DV (via an analog-to-digial converter) and kicked out final products to various formats (Quicktime for web, VHS, DVD, MiniDV) w/very good results. I've never had anyone comment on poor quality video. You might want to double check all your settings to make sure you don't have "low quality" selected somewhere.

What kind of computer are you using? I know that FCP can scale the video quality down to help insure smooth playback (but the final output will be full res, not the scaled down playback res).


Lethal

 

[NP3]

Yay. I must have had some weird setting in FCP.

I exported to mpeg2 using Compressor....it worked & it looks great. No green spots...nothing.

I've never used Compressor before....i'm really liking it...

Oh yes...i was using a DP 1.8 G5.

Thanks for all the help & info.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Yay. I must have had some weird setting in FCP.

I exported to mpeg2 using Compressor....it worked & it looks great. No green spots...nothing.

I've never used Compressor before....i'm really liking it...

Oh yes...i was using a DP 1.8 G5.

Thanks for all the help & info.

No problem. I'm just glad you were able to get it working right. Compressor is a nice little app. Whenever you can I'd suggest exporting a reference movie out of FCP and then using Compressor. It's nice to be able to encode things right out of FCP in a crunch, but it's typically not the best tool for the job.

Good luck in your class.


Lethal