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A few Final Cut Express questions

S

susanna13

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 7, 2011
7
0
First off, I'm very much a beginner at this stuff, and I frequently don't know what many of the different words and terms people use mean, so please be patient with me.

1. Whenever I export (using Quicktime conversion) from FCE, the resulting video is squashed looking and paler than the original. When I compare the image dimensions between the two, they're both the same. (And I don't know why it would be paler.)

2. Interlacing or no interlacing? I've read several things on the web about this, but most of them seem to say that if you're going to be putting your video on the web, it's a toss up, and then they don't say anything more on the matter. I always upload my content to the web.

If I've left out info you'd need, please just ask.

Thanks :D
 
arjen92

arjen92

macrumors 65816
Sep 9, 2008
1,066
0
Below sea level
Do you know what interlacing is? Look it up!

In short; do you want your video to look like this then interlace (you only interlace when you want it on Television and compressed more).

Or do you want a regular tire, without weird stripes (then don't interlace).

For the squashy looking effect you should tell us what your source material is. Did you record it on your photo camera, or did you record on HDV tape. Or did you record on DV tape.

When you export, see whether the resolution is right and what the pixels aspect ratio is. Pixels aren't always square. Final Cut Express knows this and will interpret the pixels as small rectangles. But when you export, some programs that read the exported file may not know the pixels should be rectangles. That could be the reason it's squashed.

Perhaps you could upload a picture of your settings when exporting.

Flushed out pictures (you mean the color is less vibrant/lower saturation?) may be caused by the codec. Video is stored inside a container (.mov or .avi or .mp4) and compressed using a codec (h.264 or Prores or MPEG-2). h.264 is a codec that compresses a lot (small files) but will look good enough for (internet) delivery.
 
D

daybreak

macrumors 6502a
Sep 4, 2009
531
0
There is a "HELP" section when you open FCE. Are you just starting to use this software?
 
martinX

martinX

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2009
928
162
Australia
arjen92 said:
h.264 is a codec that compresses a lot (small files) but will look good enough for (internet) delivery.
Click to expand...
h.264 is a codec that will compress just as much - or just as little - as you tell it to. It can be "good enough" for internet delivery, local networks or BluRay players.

When using FCE (or even FCP) I like to export a self-contained Quicktime movie in the codec it was edited in - that is, no further compression applied. Once I've got that in my hot little hands, then I can go to work on it using the best application for the job.

I use QuickTime X if I just want to make something for my own local playback (Apple TVs, iPods etc via iTunes), MPEG Streamclip for a bit more control over the outcome, or I'm trying to teach myself Compressor. You can also use QuickTime X to 'share with YouTube'.
 
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