Export: what am I doing wrong?

[Brett OBourke]

So, I cut together my first little 1 min, 22 sec. video (footage was shot 60i on XL2 in very low light) and it looks OK in imovie but anytime I tried to save (share in mac) it for any of the options it gives me (email, web, streaming, cd-rom) other than full quality, the footage is totally blurry and/or pixelated. And when I tried to save a full quality copy to a cd-r it didn't work.

Looks very low-res. Am I missing a step?

How do I make it look as good as it does in imovie? I'd like to email it and be able to burn it to a cd.

Any advice is appreciated.

thanks.

BO'B

[Andrew Khalil]

any time you compress footage it will lose quality and look slightly blurry/pixelated. I'm not very familiar with iMovie, so hopefully someone who is can jump in and help.

What happened when you tried to burn it to a CD? Any error messages or anything? Also, why not use DVD? If you have iMovie, you'll have iDVD which will do a good job and keep the quality higher.

[Brett OBourke]

the solution to my problem seemed to come by fiddling with the expert settings - specifically the frame rate - while attempting to save. I saved versions as both 24 and 60 but couldn't tell any discernable difference really (60 *might* have looked a little lighter), but at least I got a higher resolution out of it.

Clearly, the solution is found in the way the settings are adjusted and the video is compressed. I haven't got a clue what any of that means, really, but I guess I'm working it out.

If anyone can point me to some good literature at which these things are discussed, I'd be grateful.

BO'B

[Charles Penn]

I sure hope someone comes to the rescue!

I'm having a similar problem getting my FCE piece in the timeline to print to video so I can get it on my XL2. The camera shows record mode inside the viewfinder, the edited clip runs smoothly from the FCE but all I'm getting on my XL2 is a blue screen. Can somebody please help this frustrated guy out? Thanks.

Chuck

[Dave Perry]

Brett first:

I iMovie export using the Expert settings. This will give you access to all of the features QuickTime has for exporting. Compressing video for web or DVD is really tricky and takes a lot of trial and error and research. Hedre are some settings to try:

In expert mode in iMovie:
1-choose from the first dropdown menu "Movie to QuickTime Movie".
2-Choose the "Options" button next to it.
3-Under Video, choose "Settings"
4-In settings choose Compression Type "MPEG 4 Video"
5-Set frame rate to Current if you want smooth motion or cut it in half if it's going on the web or in an e-mail. If the native frame rate of you movie is 30 fps, which it is in iMovie, then choose 15 fps. If it was a 24 fps movie to start with choose 12 fps.
6-Set Keyframes to Every 350 Frames
7-Leave Compressor quality at medium. Raising it to best will slightly increase quality but drastically raise file size.
8-For Data Rate, select the restric to radio button but clear the filed so nothing is in it.
9-Choose OK and go to "Size" under Video
10-Set to 320x240 for a 4:3 movie. If you shot it as 16:9 use 428x240
11-Under sound settings choose Format: IMA 4:1, channels: mono, Rate: 44.1 and click OK
12-Check prepare for Internet streaming, Fast star

These settings will yield nice results for posting on a web site or e-mailing if not too long.

Charles:

All of the Canons I've used, including the XL H1, need to use the remote to print to tape from FCP or FCE. Hit the record pause button and when FCE prompts you to start the camera, hit either the pause record button again or the play button. I forget because I usually do not print to tape back to the camera.

[Brett OBourke]

Will try this out this weekend. Thanks very much for taking the time to respond. I'll be shooting short docs exclusively for the web so your input helps tremendously. Clearly, I have a lot to learn ... even more so as I just got FCE. It appears to be a just a wee bit more complex than imovie.

I assume the same settings will apply to FCE?

thanks again,

BO'B