export QT movie vs. export using QT conversion

My project is DV PAL but I will export is as 10 bit uncompressed. By this I'm hoping to improve the quality of the subtitles and possibly some of the FCP effects. Anyhow I made the sequence setting 10 bit uncompressed 4:2:2 and rendered the project. Then I tried two kinds of export: "export QT movie" (using current settings); "export using QT conversion" (specifying 10 bit uncomp. 4:2:2). One funny thing that shows going the second way is "quality: medium". I didn't set that anywhere and wish it didn't say that. The two kinds of export produced identical file sizes. The QT conversion way gave a .mov file which the QT player played. The QT movie way gave a filename with no extension -- mysterious thing -- and to play it FCP must open. I want to study the quality differences between the the two exports, and can't do this using two different players. Also the FCP player is not very revealing. Yet it was evident that the subtitles looked crappy in the no-extension file and looked sharp in the .mov file. I toasted both for another view and the difference persisted. How can one huge 10 bit uncompressed export have scruffy subtitles and another have sharp ones? Why is the "export QT movie" route, which should be simpler, having this problem? (Better question: what am I doing wrong?)

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

To put it simply, when you export using 'Quicktime conversion', you always add compression. You can change a bazillion things about the file you end up with by clicking on the 'options' button, and then exploring every option from there.

If you export as a Quicktime it does not recompress. It will be the same quality settings as your timeline. By default it saves as a file that will open in FCP, but if you want to change this, add .mov to the end of the file name, or right click it on the desktop, choose 'get info' and change 'open with' to 'Quicktime'.

Also, when you open the file in Quicktime, go to Window > Show Movie Properties > Video Track > Visual Settings > and tick the 'High Quality' box.

Why then do the subtitles look ragged when I export as a Quicktime movie but look sharp when I export using Quicktime conversion?
(Perhaps you read the opposite of what I wrote.) What happens is opposite to what should have happened.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

Did you turn on the High Quality checkbox?

Wow! That was it.
When the High Quality box is checked, both exports look identical. Strangely, the QT conversion export didn't change when the box was checked while the QT movie export did. Now I must set up a better display to look for subtle differences.
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

ah, so it's QuickTime movie exports that don't have the Hi-Qualtiy thing set by default.
i didn't know that subtle distinction before.
i wonder why that is??


"Now I must set up a better display look for subtle differences."

one good way to do that is to layer the clips in FCP, and set the top one to "Difference" composite mode.
(you can right click on a clip in the Timeline, to choose it;s comp mode)

if the clips are perfectly the same, pixel for pixel, you will get absolute black in the canvas.


nick

Yeah, hmm - that's actually a good catch. I wonder if it's technically better to leave it off if it's going back to FCP? You do have to save the file once you turn it on so something is being adjusted....

"You do have to save the file once you turn it on so something is being adjusted...."

yes, but i don't think it's anything that affects the file in FCP, or thereafter.
you would have to reconnect the file in FCP if you save the change in QT, but it's nothing technical.
i think it's just about QT display.


nick

Turn on the "use high-quality setting when available" in the Quicktime Player>Preferences>General

This will display all video that has this option whenever you open them in Quicktime.



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Oh geez. How long has that option been there? I've been changing each one and swearing under my breath at Apple the whole time. Mind you, I'm still confused as to why the default is to have it turned off.

Ta Ben.

FAQ it Jude!



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You can FAQ it Ben. I'll let ya.

Its been there since oooo January 25, 2007 06:13PM...

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For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

*sulks*