image looks soft when applying a widescreen filter 1.70:1 in FCP 4.5
 

Video image looks soft (after render) when I apply the widescreen filter 1.70:1 in FCP 4.5. Sometimes it looks fine, and sometimes it looks soft. I also offset the image as well. The image looks fine otherwise! Any suggestions.

Thanks,

Hello,

Does the video look soft when you play it back in the timeline or after compression as well? Sometimes during playback in FCP the sequence window can display the timeline as soft (RT). Try exporting the sequence to check to see if the softness continues outside the application. Also, are you using any hardware for output? Good hardware and an output monitor helps you accurately reference video in FCP before export/compression.

Hope that helps,

CJ Rogers

[QUOTE=Cale Rogers]Hello,

Does the video look soft when you play it back in the timeline or after compression as well? Sometimes during playback in FCP the sequence window can display the timeline as soft (RT). Try exporting the sequence to check to see if the softness continues outside the application. Also, are you using any hardware for output? Good hardware and an output monitor helps you accurately reference video in FCP before export/compression.

Hope that helps,

I have rendered and it still seems soft. But here is the wierd thing, some clips look fine, and some soft. I will export a clip and see how it looks outside of FCP.

Are all of your clips in the timeline of the same compression format as the sequence compression setting? Also, have you applied any effects to the clips in question? What about other setting options and presets? Those could all be contributing factors in the problem as well. Most of those questions can be answered once you've exported the timeline.

CJ Rogers

some of the clips were recorded in 24p advanced on a DVX100. I rendered them on the 29.97 NTSC timeline. The clips that look soft were recorded on 24p regular mode on a DVX100. The only effect is the letter box (to match the 24p A footage). I did adjust the positioning of the clips to better frame them when the letterbox filter was applied.

So yes its a 29.97 FPS timeline and the source is 29.97 FPS.

Different frames rates could be the cause of the blur. It's difficult to preview video in FCP without the use of a capture card or output device (AJA, Decklink, Matrox). Rendering the sequence won't change the results of the preview either. Have any of your compressions turned out?

CJ Rogers

If you're editing dv you can, just go to the view menu and choose apple firewire ntsc (or pal) and then you cal play the video out through firewire to your camera or deck and then from there to a tv monitor.

That's true, inexpensive and convenient. Although, I recommend using a third party hardware device for playback because the firewire option is processor intensive. I'd rather have the extra ponies for rendering and compression. It's just a preference.

CJ Rogers

I have checked this on a video monitor and the image is soft. I have rendered out to a full rez QT movie and it still looks soft. Most people would not recognize it, but it bothers me.

so this is what I did. The image only looked soft when I adjusted the frame to fit the letterbox filter better. I couldn't fix this, so I created a letterbox matte in Photoshop, and this seems to be working better. A little more time consuming but it gets the job done. Thanks for all the help!

Great idea using Photoshop. I'm glad you found a solution that works for your project.