OUTPUT QUALITY CRISIS!

[daevud]

So I am sitting on 4 tapes of footage waiting to be compiled-but I want to figure out how to boost my output quality before I capture. My last film was shot on the same camera (Panasonic DVX 100-24p), used the same version of FCP (4.5) and when it was done looked great on any TV-but when projected at film festivals was really grainy and looked like crap. Can I capture at a higher resolution? Is there a setting I can set so that it doesn't compress, as much-because storage space isn't an issue? WHAT CAN I DO? I also know that there are settings I need to set for the 24p I used it for the last project but forgot what setting they were and so if you know what I need to do for that too that would be really helpful. Also during shooting my DP switched the setting for half a days worth of shooting from 24p- to 30 fps so do you know about any plug ins I can buy/down load so that I can make that 30 fps run at 24p? I really want to have my stuff come out as good as it can-if the answer is just a better video/capture card...then that’s a bummer. But any setting that I can do-or plug in I can buy, or anything???

 

[DerekEastham]

OK, first... your output res.

It's not your fault, actually... because what comes out comes out... you could try outputting higher end files... like Uncompressed 10bit files... it's super high quality and very awsome image quality... pretty huge for a DVD... usually only a few minutes will fit then, but it kicks butt.
Mostly though, if you're going from DV out through a projector it can be a crap shoot if the projector isn't set up properly... DVD is my recommended way to go... it'll look the best blown up. (coming from a dv source out of a mac at least... film is best, but well, I can't afford the transfer)

As for 30P to 24P... all you have to do is capture all the footage that was 24p in the 3:2:2:3 pull down mode... and the 30p normally...
when you're editing though, make your default timeline work in 23.98FPS... NOT 24 FPS... it's not a true progressive frame... it's drop frame, so go with 23.98...it'll look brilliant.

Anyhow... best of luck!

 

[daevud]

THANKS!

THANKS!

So I am definately gonna try the 10bit uncompressed thing because we'd probably be sending this out on DVD anyway-and are total thing is like 5-6 minutes long so it should be cool. Does that just increase the resolution? And thanks for info on timeline settings.
David