16 Replies Latest reply: May 14, 2011 9:13 AM by mdubuque RSS

    Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore

    mdubuque Community Member

      Hello,

       

      I've tried quite hard to make this work.

       

      I am exporting my 24p footage as a 2vbr pass maximum render quality 24p file to import into encore.  My original footage is very high quality H.264 24p.

       

      When I import this exported footage into encore, it is intensely pixellated.

       

      Here is a screen shot:

       

      Screen shot 2011-05-12 at 7.51.59 PM.png

       

      Clearly not suitable for the big screen.

       

      Any thoughts on what I need to do differently?

       

      Thanks,

       

      Matt

        • 1. Re: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
          Ann Bens CommunityMVP

          The screenshot is that taken from Encore if so, Encore is not full resolution.

          If its a screenshot of the dvd can you post a screendump of your export settings in Premiere?

          • 2. Re: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
            mdubuque Community Member

            Thanks Ann, I think this is exactly it!  That was a screenshot from Encore.

             

            Now I'm just scrambling to learn how to increase the resolution from my previews.  A Help menu search under "preview resolution' is unavailing.... I've seen that setting somewhere!

             

            Matt

            • 3. PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
              mdubuque Community Member

              Hmmm.  My preview settings are at "high" and the images are still intensely pixellated.

              I'll post a screen grab of my export settings shortly....

              Matt

              • 4. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                mdubuque Community Member

                Here are my export settings in premiere pro that surprisingly are resulting in horrific pixellation in Encore.

                 

                Note I am rendering at maximum bit depth and maximum render quality, with 2 vbr passes....

                 

                Screen shot 2011-05-13 at 7.27.29 AM.png

                • 5. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                  Jeff Bellune CommunityMVP

                  What your export settings should look like:

                  PrMPEG2DVDExport.png

                   

                  What MediaInfo should say about the exported M2V file:

                  MediaInfoPulldown.png

                   

                  What you should see about Transcode Status in En:

                  EnMustSeeNoTranscode.png

                   

                  What your Preview and Monitor Panel images should look like:

                  EnPreviewAndMonitor.png

                   

                  -Jeff

                  • 6. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                    Ann Bens CommunityMVP

                    Set bitrate target to 7 and max to 9.

                    Turn off Frame Blending and render to max bitdepth.

                     

                    Jeff just beat me.

                    • 7. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                      Ann Bens CommunityMVP

                      Is your preview mode in Encore set to 16:9?

                      The first screendump looks 4:3.

                      Sorry make a mistake when preview is set to High its full resolution.

                      • 8. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                        mdubuque Community Member

                        Super, this is all quite helpful!

                         

                        It looks like, for starters, frame blending is a no no.  Very good to know!  Understood otherwise from recent reputable video from video2brain.  I will go with your views!

                         

                        Jeff, your screen shot seems to indicate rendering at maximum bit depth is a no no.  Am I reading that correctly?

                         

                        My M and N frame settings match yours.

                         

                        I'm off to my day job and will tackle this full bore tonite!  In the meantime I will be covertly checking this thread at work....

                         

                        Thanks again.  Looks like real progress!

                         

                        Matt

                        • 9. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                          mdubuque Community Member

                          Jeff, I'm not sure about how to locate that scan pulldown info about the file on my Mac... I understand your point that 2:3 pulldown is essential..... I recall that as a setting I made deep within PrPro some time ago, but I'm not positive.

                           

                          I'm a little puzzled as to how scan pulldowns fit into progressive footage, but I'm in over my head here....

                           

                          Thanks again!

                           

                          Matt

                          • 10. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                            mdubuque Community Member

                            Will my XMP file that was just created as part of this export contain information about whether my file had the correct 2:3 pulldown?  (I can't seem to open it and wanted to know if it was worth the effort here on my Mac.).

                             

                            Matt

                            • 11. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                              mdubuque Community Member

                              OK, I'm rendering now, off to my day job.

                               

                              Ann, not positive how to change preview mode to 16:9... i thought for an sd video it would be appropriate to have 4:3, but I must be mistaken.  I'll try to figure out how to change that setting upon my return.

                               

                              Jeff, I note that my N setting was defaulted to 15, not 12.  Could that have played a role in all this?  I have now changed it to 12.

                               

                              Here are my latest settings:

                               

                              Screen shot 2011-05-13 at 8.38.18 AM.png

                               

                              Off to my day job, thanks again!

                               

                              Matt

                              • 12. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                                mdubuque Community Member

                                Jeff, I note in your first screen shot render at maximum bit depth is checked, but on your second screen shot it appears not to be.

                                 

                                I'm going to make the executive decision here to continue to render at max bit depth.

                                 

                                Matt

                                • 13. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                                  Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                  Matt,

                                   

                                  The Preview in Encore is but an emulation, and as such, has a lot of limitations. Some, like the black flash between Menus, etc., one learns to live with, and over time, a user will amass a little list of "problems that exist only in Preview."

                                   

                                  Now, and with that said, if you have the ultimate Encode/Transcode settings, resulting in an ideal file (where much of this thread has gone, and with good reason), and you still are worried, or unhappy with the Encore Preview, there are two "tricks." Actually, it's one "trick," but with variations:

                                   

                                  1. Burn to Folder, or Image (ISO), and use a good software player to view as a test.
                                  2. Burn to a ReWritable disc, and test in either the computer with the above software players, and/or in set-top players with proper TV's.

                                   

                                  Most often, I will use either the last, or perhaps a combo. I like to test on various hardware, and keep older players around, just for that purpose.

                                   

                                  Good luck,

                                   

                                  Hunt

                                  • 14. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                                    Jeff Bellune CommunityMVP
                                    I'm going to make the executive decision here to continue to render at max bit depth.

                                    You probably won't hurt anything by doing that, but you may not be helping yourself, either.  Max Bit Depth comes at a cost: higher memory usage during render.  It follows (but I have not confirmed) that it will also tax your CPU more because there's more pixel data to push around.

                                     

                                    On th plus side, even if you output to 8-bit color depth like MPEG2, Max Bit Depth (which calculates color in 32-bit float) can help reduce banding if you have applied multiple color correction filters.  That is likely the only benefit when using MBD for 8-bit output.

                                     

                                    Jeff, I note in your first screen shot render at maximum bit depth is checked, but on your second screen shot it appears not to be.

                                     

                                    I only posted one screen shot that had export settings in it.  That screen shot had MBD unchecked and redlined.

                                     

                                    MediaInfo is available for the Mac: MediaInfo - Download

                                     

                                    -Jeff

                                    • 15. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                                      mdubuque Community Member

                                      OK, thanks gentlemen!

                                       

                                      I've also considered seeing if I can track down a similar program to the HC Mpeg2 encoder for the Mac, should the final result prove unsatisfactory.

                                       

                                      I may end up missing tomorrow's deadline, but I don't want to submit an inferior product.

                                       

                                      I am a little puzzled because I had previously burned very nice SD dvds from an older version of the film.  But using the same settings now produces this unacceptable result.

                                       

                                      Oh well.  Lots of bumps in the road for the first film!

                                       

                                      Thanks again,

                                       

                                      matt

                                      • 16. Re: PROBLEM PERSISTS: Intensely Pixelated SD footage in Encore
                                        mdubuque Community Member

                                        Thanks so much for your help everyone!

                                         

                                        I now have an acceptable quality DVD for the film festival submission today.  Much appreciated!

                                         

                                        I think one very helpful concept was to burn the DVD as slowly as possible.  Doing so seemed to push the result within the range of what is tolerable.

                                         

                                        For the actual showing however, I'd like to have a much higher quality SD version.

                                         

                                        My problems were somewhat specific to this film.  I have six different colored rolling text streams, all of them streaming in different directions, as in this screen shot below:

                                         

                                        Screen shot 2011-05-14 at 9.09.19 AM.png

                                         

                                        I think that was pretty challenging for the Adobe transcoder.  I have reduced all my opacities to 85% in an effort to mitigate the harm and this footage is pretty much broadcast safe.

                                         

                                        Any thoughts on an alternate transcoder from HD to SD for an Apple Platform?


                                        I downloaded a copy of (I believe it's called) HC media encoder yesterday, but the accompanying .pdf said it was for Windows platforms only...

                                        Thanks again!

                                        Matt