Rippling in footage?
 

I’ve noticed some rippling in footage I just shot on my EX3. The video looks fine and plays back well after transferring using Clip Browser and then Sony XDCAM transfer. However, when I've imported clips into Final Cut Pro V. 7.0 I can see a distinct rippling that is horizontal across the image. Again, when I play the footage as a QuickTime clip after transferring it into a storage folder using Sony XDCAM transfer the video looks fine. It’s only after I’ve transferred it into Final Cut Pro that I've noticed the rippling effect. Has anyone experienced this, and if so what is the cause? What needs to be done to prevent it?
-------------------
Sony EX3, Mac Pro 2x 2.66 GHz Quad Core, Snow Leopard 10.6.1, Final Cut Pro V. 7.0, 2x 32GB Transcend SDHC

It sounds like a frequency clash between your software output and your monitor display

Thanks, Vincent. I'm not sure if I really understand what you mean, but in any case is there anything I can do to correct/fix it so that there's no clash?

Sorry I posted that last message in haste just before taking my daughter to school.

Thinking about your problem, I would suspect it is the way Final Cut previews your footage. Generally previews are not displayed at full resolution, they tend to be proxy previews. It sounds like your final delivery is OK so realy you don't have anything to worry about. In Premiere Pro we have a choice of how we want to display our clips, High Resolution, Auto or Low Resolution. I am sure you must have someting similar in Final Cut

Could you further describe 'ripple'. Can you post a clip or a still demonstrating the problem?

Does this appear on an external NTSC/PAL monitor or only in the FCP preview window?

I see all kinds of weird stuff when previewing on computer monitor. Only an external NTSC/PAL monitor tells the truth about your footage.

If you are compressing for final delivery for computer view only, then it should look good. But only after compressing to the final QT/Flash or whatever format.

XDcam is pretty heavy to decode especially in a program with as much overhead as FCP.

I use AJA Kona and Matrox MX02 hardware along with HD-SDI monitors for previewing. You also need fast HD's, preferably raided to what is really going on.

I have seen that same effect a couple of times, and I am using Edius.

I only notice it when I am previewing the material at high speed, then it becomes obvious.

I don't get it on the external reference monitor though, only on the computer screen.

It occured to me that there was neon lighting in the room on one occasion, and perhaps the timing was off between the camera and the lighting, like a very slow motion half shutter we get with the a flash unit going off.


Have you tried putting it out to DVD and play it back to see if it still a problem? It may be nothing to worry about.

I also was most distressed to see the "ripple effect" (and as to cause, I have NO idea!) when I saw it in the Premiere Pro CS3 timeline playback - using Cineform Prospect 4k plug in, with some CRUCIAL shots on an event videography production. So here is the same problem on a PC platform with Adobe programs instead of FCP on Apple - leads one to think its the camera, doesn't it? The "ripple" (if you see it, you know it!) was exhibited as horizontal waves proceeding from top to bottom of the 16x9 1920x1080 30p production, on several shots. I spent a lot of time examining camera setting, edit settings, etc., and could not discern any pattern suggesting why the problem showed up on a few shots, and none others!

In any event, because a couple of shots exhibiting ripple were really essential, I included them in the final production, and after going through the various steps to provide a BD-R (using AME CS-4 and Encore CS4), the issue did not appear! This parellels the experience of one other user, as reported above. Soooo, in future, I will proceed as if the problem does not exist. Because in the final product, it doesn't! I'd follow the suggestion already given above, and produce a test BD orDVD, and see what happens.

Thanks all so much for the great input. I haven't tested the footage yet by outputting to a DVD. Will do that later today to find out what happens. As others have mentioned, I suspect it's not going to show up in a final delivery. I'll keep testing and will give an update later on. Thanks again.

I've seen this kind of issue many times. In my experience it's entirely down to the playback ability (or not) of the graphics card. I see something that may be similar on my current edit PC setup. Often known as 'tearing'. I suspect you won't see it on a production monitor or DVD playback on a TV set.

I did a test by outputting to a DVD yesterday ... and the rippling didn't show up, thankfully. Also not showing up on my output production monitor. So looks like it's benign.