Transition Distortion
 

Hi all.
I edited some still pics on FCP5 for a 3 minute loop video to be displayed on plasma screens. After I was done, I compressed the movie using H264. Everything was fine except that the transitions (cross zoom) had some serious distortion lines. Is it a codec problem? I also had problems with some of the images when applying transitions: i was receiving a message saying "insufficient content for edit". Any idea how I can solve this issue.

Where can I find some extensive information regarding codecs?
Thanks.

Jeff

Jeff,
The "insufficient content for edit" message just means that you don't have enough of a handle on the in or out point of a clip to apply the transition at the selected length. If you try to place a 2-second dissolve between two clips that only have handles of 10 frames then FCP can't add the transition - there isn't enough material.

I don't know exactly what you mean by "distortion lines," but it is almost certainly a compression problem. Interframe codecs like H.264 (or MPEG-2 or Windows Media, etc.) are least effective and most problematic when every pixel in the frame is changing. That's why they have trouble with cross zooms and dissolves. It's possible that you could benefit from using an encoder other than the built-in H.264 export in FCP. 2-pass encoders can help with problems like this, but I don't know what's available at the moment for H.264. If a better encoder is not an option, your only solution might be to take the cross zooms out.