Rob Lohman
August 31st, 2004, 05:35 AM
Per default the two often used players (Windows Media Player
and QuickTime) on the Windows platform default to a low
resolution presentation when playing back DV.
Edit: it seems this "issue" exists also on the Mac platform, see
the posts below!
The problem is two-fold. When you play back QuickTime footage
the file looks like full resolution but very poorly. With the Windows
Media Player (WMP) it will only show 50% of the available
resolution which reduces the picture size by half.
So if you have been asking yourself why the footage looked so
small or so bad in comparison to a TV you have just found ONE
of the reasons. There are more reasons like color accuracy of
a computer monitor versus a TV or production monitor. A TV
(interlaced) also works differently than a computer monitor (progressive).
Just check the following QuickTime player screenshots on my
Windows XP Professional computer to see for yourself: Normal playback (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_Normal.jpg)
High Quality enabled (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_HQ.jpg)(files are in jpeg format)
Now that's a scary difference! Look at how much blurring
happens and the complete loss of interlacing artifacts which
you usually really want to see to check whether footage is
interlaced or progressive or whether your de-interlacing did
its job correctly. QuickTime's default settings is by far the worst
of the two. Windows Media Player will just half the resolution
(which also looses interlacing information etc.).
You want a fix?
Fix for QuickTime
Unfortunately this will only work if you have upgraded to
QuickTime Pro. The free version does not allow changing the
needed setting. Open the QuickTime player and load a DV movie
Select "Get Movie Properties" under the "Movie" menu
Select "Video track" under the first (left) pulldown
Select "Quality" under the second (right) pulldown
Select "High Quality Enabled"
OK out of all the WindowsThe change is instant. However, this change is on a PER FILE
basis. So you will need to do this again for each file. You have
an option to save this preference with your file (QuickTime
player asks you to save changes when you exit) so it will stay
enabled for that specific file. If you do not save it you will also
need to re-enable it when you open the file again.
Fix for the new Windows Media Player (wmplayer.exe)
This player comes with newer Windows versions like XP and
probably Windows 2000 as well. Open the Windows Media Player, no need to load a file
Select "Options" under the "Tools" menu
Go to the "Performance" tab
Under "Video acceleration" click "Advanced"
The slider under "Digital Video" should be set all the way to the right ("Large")
OK out of the windows and close the playerFix for the old Media Player (mplayer2.exe)
This player comes with older versions of Windows like Windows 98. Open the Media Player and load a DV file
Select "Properties" under the "File" menu
Go to the "Advanced" tab
Select "DV Video Decoder" under "Filters in use:"
Click on the "Properties" button
Make sure it is set to "Full (NTSC: 720*480, PAL: 720*576)" under "Decoding resolution"
Enabled the checkbox "Save as default"
Click apply and OK out of the windows and close the playerNotes
As indicated the fix only works with QuickTime Pro and must be
done for every file.
Windows XP also has the older Media Player installed and it looks
like changing the setting in one program effects both.
The screengrabs came from a test Kaku Ito shot with an XL2
camera and are being used with his permission. You can view
the original movie in the following thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31215
Thanks Kaku! If you want to see the difference uncompressed
you can download the following BMP files (1.3 MB each):
Normal playback (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_Normal.bmp) (uncompressed)
High Quality enabled (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_HQ.bmp) (uncompressed)
and QuickTime) on the Windows platform default to a low
resolution presentation when playing back DV.
Edit: it seems this "issue" exists also on the Mac platform, see
the posts below!
The problem is two-fold. When you play back QuickTime footage
the file looks like full resolution but very poorly. With the Windows
Media Player (WMP) it will only show 50% of the available
resolution which reduces the picture size by half.
So if you have been asking yourself why the footage looked so
small or so bad in comparison to a TV you have just found ONE
of the reasons. There are more reasons like color accuracy of
a computer monitor versus a TV or production monitor. A TV
(interlaced) also works differently than a computer monitor (progressive).
Just check the following QuickTime player screenshots on my
Windows XP Professional computer to see for yourself: Normal playback (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_Normal.jpg)
High Quality enabled (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_HQ.jpg)(files are in jpeg format)
Now that's a scary difference! Look at how much blurring
happens and the complete loss of interlacing artifacts which
you usually really want to see to check whether footage is
interlaced or progressive or whether your de-interlacing did
its job correctly. QuickTime's default settings is by far the worst
of the two. Windows Media Player will just half the resolution
(which also looses interlacing information etc.).
You want a fix?
Fix for QuickTime
Unfortunately this will only work if you have upgraded to
QuickTime Pro. The free version does not allow changing the
needed setting. Open the QuickTime player and load a DV movie
Select "Get Movie Properties" under the "Movie" menu
Select "Video track" under the first (left) pulldown
Select "Quality" under the second (right) pulldown
Select "High Quality Enabled"
OK out of all the WindowsThe change is instant. However, this change is on a PER FILE
basis. So you will need to do this again for each file. You have
an option to save this preference with your file (QuickTime
player asks you to save changes when you exit) so it will stay
enabled for that specific file. If you do not save it you will also
need to re-enable it when you open the file again.
Fix for the new Windows Media Player (wmplayer.exe)
This player comes with newer Windows versions like XP and
probably Windows 2000 as well. Open the Windows Media Player, no need to load a file
Select "Options" under the "Tools" menu
Go to the "Performance" tab
Under "Video acceleration" click "Advanced"
The slider under "Digital Video" should be set all the way to the right ("Large")
OK out of the windows and close the playerFix for the old Media Player (mplayer2.exe)
This player comes with older versions of Windows like Windows 98. Open the Media Player and load a DV file
Select "Properties" under the "File" menu
Go to the "Advanced" tab
Select "DV Video Decoder" under "Filters in use:"
Click on the "Properties" button
Make sure it is set to "Full (NTSC: 720*480, PAL: 720*576)" under "Decoding resolution"
Enabled the checkbox "Save as default"
Click apply and OK out of the windows and close the playerNotes
As indicated the fix only works with QuickTime Pro and must be
done for every file.
Windows XP also has the older Media Player installed and it looks
like changing the setting in one program effects both.
The screengrabs came from a test Kaku Ito shot with an XL2
camera and are being used with his permission. You can view
the original movie in the following thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31215
Thanks Kaku! If you want to see the difference uncompressed
you can download the following BMP files (1.3 MB each):
Normal playback (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_Normal.bmp) (uncompressed)
High Quality enabled (www.visuar.com\DVi\QT_Win_HQ.bmp) (uncompressed)