Help with AVID for Mac?

[jimnightshade79]

I'm trying to export projects from AVID(to a Quicktime movie file or something better) using export settings that will yield the highest possible Audio/Visual quality. I've tried a number of different compression settings/combinations but I am having problems with horizontal lines in the Quicktime files that I make(I believe this has something to do with interlacing). Can anyone explain what export settings I should use in AVID to avoid these horizontal lines and maintain exceptional quality?
Thanks in advance for any clarification.

p.s. I'm using AVID XPRESS PRO v5.6 for Mac and generally I import the video at 30i (a friend told me to import @ 30i for projects involving more than one frame rate); and most of the video is shot in 24P on a Panasonic DVX

 

[spinnerlys]

What editing software do you want to import the footage to?

You can make a QT Reference using Avid, which is a small file, as it points to the Avid media in Avid MediaFiles and Omfi MediaFiles folders.

With that you can also work.


What I do normally is make a QT Reference, using the Avid DV codec and proper settings like progressive and the right aspect ratio and frame rate.

Then I use MPEG Streamclip to convert it something I can use in the other application I want to use, if this application fails to read the QT Reference or if it goes to a system without Avid.


What broadcast system did you use with the DVX? PAL or NTSC?

And yes, the jittering comes from the interlaced fields, but did you record the footage interlaced? If so, then that is not a problem, as TVs will display it correctly, if the field order is right.

 

[jimnightshade79]

AVID for Mac

Thanks for responding. I shoot the DVX with NTSC. Basically the scenario is:

When I finish editing a project, I like to archive it to MiniDV tape so I have a hard copy. However I do not currently have a VTR/VCR. I only have a small,older panansonic miniDV camera that I use as a VTR. Problem is, it does not have a VTR 'record' button to receive incoming material via firewire(for purposes of archiving my projects).

So what I'm trying to do is create a Quicktime file of the highest quality(and no horizontal interlacing lines) which I can then import into iMovie HD on the Mac. Reason I want to do this is because iMovie has a 'share' feature/button which will automatically record the project, via firewire, to a tape in the afore-mentioned small, older Panasonic miniDV camera.

So bottom line: I'm looking for the correct compression settings to attain a high-quality Quicktime(or, if applicable another type of) file to transfer to iMovie for these purposes.

Hope this isn't too garbled; I can elaborate if necessary. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jimnightshade79]

response to last question

p.s. In answer to your last question:

the project contains footage with different frame rates. Most of it was recorded in 24P. But some of the footage was recorded at 30i or 29.97

 

[spinnerlys]

Then it would be best to export the sequence with one frame rate (the one the smaller and older Panasonic DV camcorder will record with) and one field format, either interlaced or progressive.

You can make interlaced footage progressive (at least from a technical point of view, it won't look like real progressive footage) in Avid. Have a look at the Help section.


You can use the following settings to export with good quality:


Either

or DV Stream

Maybe ignore the "Preserve aspect ratio" checkbook and try it without.

 

[KeithPratt]

I really don't think you want to de-interlace. 24P in the DVX is recorded as interlaced 29.97 with a 3:2 pull-down. That and the other 29.97 material should play fine on a TV if left as interlaced 29.97. You want to export as '720x480', '601/709' colour space and 'Even (Lower Field First)'.

I'm a little out of the loop as to how iMovie likes its DV files (DV stream or mov container), so someone else will have to give directions there.

 

[LethalWolfe]

I really don't think you want to de-interlace.

Agreed. The source is interlaced and the destination is interlaced so de-interlacing the footage will only introduce problems.

Never, ever judge the quality of your video as you see it on your computer monitor because neither your editing software nor your computer monitor is playing the video back accurately.


Lethal

 

[spinnerlys]

Thanks for clarifying the bit about interlacing.

I wasn't so sure about that myself, but didn't mention it due to some work related distractions.

 

[jimnightshade79]

thanks everyone for responding. When I'm exporting at '720x480', '601/709' colour space and 'Even (Lower Field First)' I assume this is in Quicktime movie format, correct? AVID gives me another drop-down menu to select
H.264 and all these other formats. Which one is the highest quality for archive purposes?

 

[spinnerlys]

.mov (QuickTime suffix) is a container for codecs like .h264.
720x480 (horizontal x vertical resolution in pixels), 601/709 colour space (601 for interlaced digitized SD footage, 701 for HD footage in 16:9 aspect ratio) and "Even (lower field first)" (filed dominance, as SD footage is interlaced, combine by two fields, the www will tell you more) has nothing to do with the QuickTime movie format. There can be .avis and other files too, consisting of those parameters.

If you want to archive the clip, and only store it for review purposes, and no further editing, then a .mov encoded with .h264 would be good.
Choose the highest quality settings and even multi-pass, if available.

If you want to edit the exported clip sometimes in the future, better to choose a .mov with the DV codec, as that preserves the highest possible quality you can get from your source footage.
The resulting file will take up 220MB/minute of hard drive space.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Yeah, H.264 is great as a final delivery codec but a very poor choice for archiving. Saving as DV is fine since that's your source format, but if you wanted the best quality you'd need to save as Uncompressed. Whether or not Uncompressed will gain you a lot depends on the project. You could always export one of each and do a side-by-side comparison to see if you can tell the difference.


Lethal

 

[bigbossbmb]

IIRC avid applies a 4:1:1 chroma smoothing to DV captures to alleviate chroma artifacts. So exporting to Uncompressed should yield visually better results than going back to DV.

 

[jimnightshade79]

OK so for archiving I should do Quicktime Movie file/interlaced/uncompressed/601/709 colour space/Even (lower field first) is what the general concensus is telling me. Is '720x480' for 16:9? I shot in 4:3; what size should I use for the aspect ratio setting?

To Spinnerlys: 'better to choose a .mov with the DV codec'-Is this in reference the 'AVID' DV Codec setting? Can you clarify?

Humbly,
Jim