exporting jpg stills from hdv clips at DVinfo.net

John Cox · April 11th, 2007, 07:15 PM

I'm sure this is a silly question, but I'm having problems finding the answer...

I have some clips in fcp that I captured from my xh-a1 shot at 1080i60. The clips look fine on the screen, but when I go to export a still image it ends up looking squished. I've seen mention of fixing this with photoshop, but I don't own photoshop. Is there no way to export to jpg and have it look right to post on the web?

Thanks!

Boyd Ostroff · April 11th, 2007, 08:13 PM

Welcome to DVinfo John! You really do need Photoshop or something similar, once you have it you'll start finding lots of uses, like making titles for example. I'm sure there are some shareware/freeware options, but take a look at Photoshop Elements. It's a very powerful program that can do most of the things the full version is capable of. List price is $80 but you can probably find it for less: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/

To answer your question, HDV 1080 is "anamorphic" which means the image is "squished" when recorded to tape, then stretched back into the correct proportion when viewed. In photoshop (or elements) you need to resize/resample your stills to the correct proportions such as 1920x1080 or 1440x808 or any other size where the width is 1.78 times the height.

Heath McKnight · April 11th, 2007, 08:57 PM

Make sure you save them as 1920x1080, since I do a LOT of stills exporting froom HDV, if you're working with HDV 1080i. Same with DVCPro HD 1080i (and 720p needs to be 1280x720).

Heath

Todd Giglio · April 12th, 2007, 08:24 AM

John,

Exactly what Heath and Boyd stated (I always resize my 1440x1080 to 1920x1080). Also if your source is Interlaced be sure to use the Video filter in Photoshop (an excellent program by the way and well worth the money) and select de-interlace. You can get some very decent still images from HDV (and I also sometimes use the Image Doctor (jpeg repair) plug for PS to help clean up the image.

Todd

Chuck Fadely · April 12th, 2007, 08:29 AM

And order matters: do the de-interlace first, then resize from 1440x1080 to 1920x1080.

Heath McKnight · April 12th, 2007, 08:35 AM

If you're de-interlacing HDV footage, select upper (odd) field first.

heath

John Cox · April 12th, 2007, 09:45 AM

Thanks for all the help. I discovered that I can resize the images with capture nx, which I already own. I don't see how to de-interlace with nx, but since these are just a few stills I'm putting on my web site for family and friends to look at, I don't think it matters that much.

If anyone cares to look, the site is http://eupher.com/fox

and contains some pics of a family of red fox that are living under my front porch. My favorite one is dsc_0034, near the bottom of the page. The very last two images (spy and nurse) are the stills I got from video.

Thanks again for all the help!

James Swirsky · April 12th, 2007, 11:04 AM

Hi John,

After getting frustrated with the de-squishing process found in FCP exports, I started using QT for my stills.

Quicktime Player's "export still image" option makes for a nice, quick&dirty frame grab.

You can use exported FCP QT files, or the raw captured QT files.

I'm not too sure if the end image is of as high a quality as the Photoshop/Deinterlace process would produce. But it does look good, and works great for casual applications.

(in fact, I used this method to produce frame grabs to be blown up to 3 foot or so on a banner. I was amazed at how well they stood up. Of course, the closer you inspect, the less amazed you are, but from 4-5 feet out, it didn't look too shabby at all.)

-james

April 11th, 2007, 07:15 PM	#1
John Cox Tourist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Springfield, VA Posts: 4	exporting jpg stills from hdv clips I'm sure this is a silly question, but I'm having problems finding the answer... I have some clips in fcp that I captured from my xh-a1 shot at 1080i60. The clips look fine on the screen, but when I go to export a still image it ends up looking squished. I've seen mention of fixing this with photoshop, but I don't own photoshop. Is there no way to export to jpg and have it look right to post on the web? Thanks!

April 11th, 2007, 08:57 PM	#3
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Make sure you save them as 1920x1080, since I do a LOT of stills exporting froom HDV, if you're working with HDV 1080i. Same with DVCPro HD 1080i (and 720p needs to be 1280x720). Heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

April 12th, 2007, 08:35 AM	#6
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	If you're de-interlacing HDV footage, select upper (odd) field first. heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

April 11th, 2007, 08:13 PM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Welcome to DVinfo John! You really do need Photoshop or something similar, once you have it you'll start finding lots of uses, like making titles for example. I'm sure there are some shareware/freeware options, but take a look at Photoshop Elements. It's a very powerful program that can do most of the things the full version is capable of. List price is $80 but you can probably find it for less: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/ To answer your question, HDV 1080 is "anamorphic" which means the image is "squished" when recorded to tape, then stretched back into the correct proportion when viewed. In photoshop (or elements) you need to resize/resample your stills to the correct proportions such as 1920x1080 or 1440x808 or any other size where the width is 1.78 times the height.

April 12th, 2007, 08:24 AM	#4
Todd Giglio Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 265	John, Exactly what Heath and Boyd stated (I always resize my 1440x1080 to 1920x1080). Also if your source is Interlaced be sure to use the Video filter in Photoshop (an excellent program by the way and well worth the money) and select de-interlace. You can get some very decent still images from HDV (and I also sometimes use the Image Doctor (jpeg repair) plug for PS to help clean up the image. Todd

April 12th, 2007, 08:29 AM	#5
Chuck Fadely Major Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 306	And order matters: do the de-interlace first, then resize from 1440x1080 to 1920x1080.

April 12th, 2007, 09:45 AM	#7
John Cox Tourist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Springfield, VA Posts: 4	Thanks for all the help. I discovered that I can resize the images with capture nx, which I already own. I don't see how to de-interlace with nx, but since these are just a few stills I'm putting on my web site for family and friends to look at, I don't think it matters that much. If anyone cares to look, the site is http://eupher.com/fox and contains some pics of a family of red fox that are living under my front porch. My favorite one is dsc_0034, near the bottom of the page. The very last two images (spy and nurse) are the stills I got from video. Thanks again for all the help!

April 12th, 2007, 11:04 AM	#8
James Swirsky New Boot Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Winnipeg, MB Posts: 16	Hi John, After getting frustrated with the de-squishing process found in FCP exports, I started using QT for my stills. Quicktime Player's "export still image" option makes for a nice, quick&dirty frame grab. You can use exported FCP QT files, or the raw captured QT files. I'm not too sure if the end image is of as high a quality as the Photoshop/Deinterlace process would produce. But it does look good, and works great for casual applications. (in fact, I used this method to produce frame grabs to be blown up to 3 foot or so on a banner. I was amazed at how well they stood up. Of course, the closer you inspect, the less amazed you are, but from 4-5 feet out, it didn't look too shabby at all.) -james