I filmed an interview in DV mode (don't have enough p2 cards and this wasn't a vital thing) and got this result. Look at Dave's red shirt - and this blocky-ness lasts the entire interview.

http://www.lutchmedial.ca/frame.jpg

Should I expect to see this kind of artifacts with red - I know dv hates red, but this seems pretty extreme. I realize I am not talking HD here, but this is using the HVX so I thought it appropriate to talk about what it's DV capabilities are. I will include me settings here too:

(shooting 24pa on a mini DV tape)

Film Cam, 24 frame, 200d, detail 0, v detail 0, detail coring +6, chroma level -2, chromo phase 0, color temp 0, master ped -4, gamma cine V, Matrix Cine, Skin tone dtl off.

You should also know I am running FCP 5, did a quicktime conversion export jpg best quality.

Any suggestions what I could have done better (other than shoot HD!)

That is DV.....
The HVX200 will shoot DVCPRO50 in SD either 4:3 or 16:9....
But you do have to use either the P2 cards or the firestore.....
Editing in FCP using DVCPRO50 will yield much cleaner results,
especially in the reds.....

Yeah, I knew shooting in another format would have given better results, but like I said, that wasn't possible. Besides, shooting DVCPRO 50 480i 24pa takes up just as much space as 720p 24pn so it wouldn't have helped me and my meager 4 gig p2 card (when, oh when is my free 8 gig card coming!). In any case, I was just curious if there was anything I could have done, save changing Dave's shirt, to avoid such artifacts using the hvx with dv. I suppose the answer is: nothing.

By the way, I just changed the photo in the link to a close up which gives a better idea of what I was talking about.

hhmm. it's quite a lot of blocky-ness even for DV. did you capture using DV codec?
are you checking your DV video on a NTSC monitor?
my bet is that it's actually looking better than that on a monitor.
e.

On an NTSC monitor is just looks like a bit of a hazy redish blur around the edges. Not the end of the world, certainly, but I am always trying to tweek images to their best given the format. It still seemed like a lot of blocks even for the computer display. I captured using the NTSC DV Advanced Pulldown preset in FCP.

Have you tried exporting QT movie - using Current Settings?
(NOT QT Conversion)

Andy

Well, no, I was only referring to the jpg I posted, not exporting a movie. My final will be on a dvd, which I will eventually use compressor. Am I wrong in thinking you can only export a jpg though quicktime conversion? In any case it is what the video looks like.

In FCP apply color smoothing 4:1:1 or if you have nattress plugins g nicer.

Filter away from red on the color wheel, then push it back in post...as little as possible to get good results. Experiment with it. The problem is when DV puts the reds to tape...so if you don't let it have as much true reds, it'll compress more friendly-like.