C100 footage degraded on export

[Jody Arnott]

Hi guys,

I got my C100 a few days ago and so far I'm extremely happy with the footage it produces. When viewing the raw footage, it's extremely clean and sharp.

However, once I export the footage from my NLE (Avid MC), it seems to be degraded. I'm exporting in a lossless format (Quicktime .MOV "same as source"), so it shouldn't be doing any kind of re-compression. But if you look at the video below, you can see wavy lines and artifacts, especially on sharp edges like the roof of the house and the leaves on the trees.

I haven't had this issue with footage from my other cameras, and my workflow hasn't changed.

Any thoughts? Not sure if this is a question for the NLE forum... thought I'd try here first.

Obviously YouTube will have compressed the file but the issues are still noticeable:

c100 - YouTube

Thanks in advance.

[Matt Davis]

Your footage is fine. It's just the way AVID is interpreting the AVCHD, and it can be fixed quickly.

What you're seeing is Avid misinterpreting the 'Progressive Segmented Frame' flag of the AVCHD footage, which is progressive, but your NLE thinks is interlaced*, and is doing a line doubling 'deinterlace' for you when it should not do it.

Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro X also do this.

Here's a lengthier explaination and a guide to fixing it in PPro and FCPX - sorry, I don't do Avid.

Canon C100 PsF – the fix | Travelling Matt

I'm sure it's a simple 'interpret footage' switch somewhere in the import to bin bit.

* the progressive frame is stored in an 'interlace wrapper' - just the nature of the way Canon's implementation of AVCHD works. The frame really is interlaced, but it contains the progressive frame segmented into two fields from the same frame - Progressive Segmented Frame, PsF.

[Chris Medico]

In Avid you will need to open the bin where your footage is located and view it in list view (not thumbnails or script view). Turn on a field called "Field Motion". This will show you how Avid is seeing the footage (progressive or interlaced). If it is seeing the footage as interlaced you can manually set it to progressive.

This should take care of the problem.

[Jody Arnott]

Thanks guys. That makes sense. I'm away for a few days but I'll have a look when I get back to the office and report back.

Much appreciated.

[Jody Arnott]

Originally Posted by Chris Medico

In Avid you will need to open the bin where your footage is located and view it in list view (not thumbnails or script view). Turn on a field called "Field Motion". This will show you how Avid is seeing the footage (progressive or interlaced). If it is seeing the footage as interlaced you can manually set it to progressive.

This should take care of the problem.

Hi Chris,

I have finally found some spare time to test out my Avid/C100 workflow. As you suggested, Avid is interpreting the footage as interlaced.

I can't seem to remember where the setting is to force Avid to interpret the footage as progressive. Could you shed any light on this? Google isn't much help.

I'm using AMA to import the footage, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance.

[Chris Medico]

If you click on the "Field Motion" field for a video in the bin you should get little popup. You should be able to select from the options in the popup. You will have to do this for each file in your bin.

I'll look and see if it can be changed in a batch method.

[Chris Medico]

I just selected a bin full of clips and changed them from progressive to interlaced by clicking on the "Field Motion" field and changing one with the others selected. They all changed together. I am running MC7 so your mileage may vary if you are running an earlier version.

[Jody Arnott]

Originally Posted by Chris Medico

I just selected a bin full of clips and changed them from progressive to interlaced by clicking on the "Field Motion" field and changing one with the others selected. They all changed together. I am running MC7 so your mileage may vary if you are running an earlier version.

Thanks Chris, that seems to have done the trick. Much appreciated.