Quality issues: Sony CX-7 HD Camera, MacBook Pro, iMovie 08

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Hey, everyone. I've searched (possibly not well enough) and found numerous threads on HD, AVCHD, CX-7 questions/issues, but haven't really found what I'm looking for. So, sorry if this seems like a repost, but I don't think it is.

I've imported a ton of HD footage from my CX-7 at 1920x1080 resolution. I was checking the quality of the clips before I send it out to other people who were on this trip with me and am just seeing horrible quality from the produced files. It looked great when previewed in iMovie viewer, but not as a finished format.

For the purposes of trying to figure this out, I'm just using a short 30 second selection from the longer clip I imported from the camera. With that 30 seconds added to my iMovie project, I can preview it in the iMovie "viewer" pane and it looks STELLAR. I mean super clear...awesome. Then I export it to .mov, .mp4, .avi...any other format and the quality goes to absolute shit. It's interlaced, pixelated, choppy. It looks the way a 640x480 video looks when maximized to 1600x1200. The only way I can get it to come out looking good is if I publish to media browser, import to iDVD and burn a DVD. Then, it looks great on a TV. But I'm not trying to get a finished product right now. I'm trying to get processed AVCHD footage to the other people on the trip so they've got raw footage to work with, too.

I don't get it...footage quality is GREAT going in, garbage coming out. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

-C.

[parachutist 1]

Quote

I've imported a ton of HD footage from my CX-7 at 1920x1080 resolution.

I don't know if this is your issue or not, but I had similar problem when I first started working with CX7 last year: My projects were set to 1920 x 1080, but CX7's AVCHD is actually 1440 x 1080. So my video editing software was stretching the video out to 1920 and that was my source of garbage creation. After I set the projects tp 1440 x 1080 they looked a lot better

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Thanks for the suggestion. However...I'm not so sure that's a factor, unless you changed your camera settings...

1920x1080 = 16:9 aspect ratio
1440x1080 = 4:3 aspect ratio

Is it possible your camera was set on 4:3 instead of widescreen 16:9?

I appreciate the suggestion, though. Gonna work with Apple tomorrow and show them what I'm running into. Will let you know how it turns out.

-C.

[parachutist 1]

Quote

Thanks for the suggestion. However...I'm not so sure that's a factor, unless you changed your camera settings...

1920x1080 = 16:9 aspect ratio
1440x1080 = 4:3 aspect ratio

Is it possible your camera was set on 4:3 instead of widescreen 16:9?

I appreciate the suggestion, though. Gonna work with Apple tomorrow and show them what I'm running into. Will let you know how it turns out.

-C.

1440 x 1080 still comes out to 16:9 aspect ratio because of intended pixel aspect, which should be set to 1.333 (1440 x 1.333 = almost 1920). If you look up the specs on the CX-7, it only does 1440.. the CX12 is a different story, as they upgraded it to 1920.

[parachutist 1]

Here's a link to a description of the pixel aspect ratio & how it turns into 16:9:

====================
During the time for each scan line, 1920 pixels should be transferred. However, most HD video systems cannot record pixels at that rate. Therefore, DVCPRO HD records 1280 pixels; while both HDCAM and the MainProfile@High1440 (MP@H-14) MPEG-2 encoding used by Sony’s HDV camcorders record 1440 pixels. So how are 1280 or 1440 pixels mapped to 1920 pixels? The answer is that each pixel is rectangular — not square. In the case of 1440, each pixel needs to have a 1.33:1 pixel aspect ratio as shown in Figure 2.
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/hdrfx1.html
====================

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Good info. I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.
-C.

[HSPScott 0]

Why are you using iMovie '08? It's worth the money to buy Final Cut Express.

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Does Final Cut Express succinctly address the quality issues I'm encountering? Is it better w/ HD formats than iMovie? I don't believe that is the answer. Final Cut Express--as it has been explained to me by Apple--is more feature-rich and closer to the more professional tools. So, unless you can say that Final Cut Express will solve the problem and why, I'll stick w/ iMovie for now.
-C.

[HSPScott 0]

I haven't edited in HD yet, but it is HD. I have an HD camcorder, but for now am shooting in standard mode. Rarely do I use iMovie, and I prefer iMovie 06. It is HD also, but i think it is better than 08. If I'm not mistaken, I think that you can download the 06 version from Apple for free: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html. I would also get quicktime pro. It gives you a more choices when you export.

[kelly456 0]

Encode Sony CX-7 HD to AIC for iMovie keeping best quality:

http://www.pavtube.com/guide/convert-avchd-to-imovie-import-mts-m2ts-to-imovie.html]

[kelly456 0]

It seems iMovie 8/9/11 still can’t surpport 1080/50p(PAL) or 1080/60p(NTSC) AVCHD Full-HD recordings. So to natively import and edit Sony CX-7 AVCHD .mts files in iMovie ’8/’9/’11 ,you need is a powerful Sony MTS Converter to transcode MTS to iMovie AIC http://www.pavtube.com/best-sony-avchd-converter-for-imovie.html .

[DSE 3]

http://www.macxdvd.com/avchd-video-converter-free/ is a free converter for those that don't have mountain lion.
Bear in mind that the CX7 doesn't record "full HD." This is why some apps don't support the non-square PAR.

[JerryEdison001 0]

You can learn something from http://www.ufusoft.com/transode-sony-nex-fs100-1080p60-avchd-to-mov-for-fcp-67x-or-fce-4-editing-on-mac/