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jaredbkt · Mar 21, 2003, 02:03 PM

Anyone know how to get good quality with QT video? If you watch a movie trailer at Apple.com it looks amazing. The titles are crisp, the images a rich....it looks beautiful.

However, when I export something to a QT movie, the titles are muddy and the image is not as clear. I have QT Pro. Any ideas for what codec to use? How can I clean it up especially for full screen presentation.

Thanks.

dampeoples · Mar 21, 2003, 02:44 PM

I'm partial to the Mp4 codec. I think the trailers are encoded with something like discreet cleaner.

dampeoples · Mar 21, 2003, 02:46 PM

If you are not putting it on the web, and on something like a CD for a presentation, use no compression at all.

jaredbkt · Mar 21, 2003, 02:56 PM

I've tried no compression but the text on screen is still muddy. MPEG 4 only allows for 320x240 size.

KeyLimePi · Mar 21, 2003, 03:03 PM

If you're looking for a nice, simple answer I don't think there is one. The people that compress the online trailers are pros and for some, it's a full-time career.

If there was a quickie way to compress all movies to be clean and smooth, these guys wouldn't have a job.

Uncle Skeleton · Mar 21, 2003, 03:05 PM

what are you starting with?

you can export to movie with the mpeg4 codec to get around the silly restrictions. the quality is also much better (but slower encoding) with this route over the mp4 file route.

you should also give a try to other codecs like 3ivx, divx, on2 vp3, or mpeg1. Everyone has their own bias as to which codec is better overall, so you should make a short test movie that has a sampling of color, action, text, brightness, etc, and try each codec and see what you prefer (I prefer 3ivx).

For your blurry/muddy text, it sounds like a different problem. I know QT defaults to opening DV-codec files in a low-quality mode, which is a playback problem; I'm not sure what if any steps are necessary to make it export in high-quality mode. Or perhaps you have a blur filter on by mistake. If you could put up some screenshots or samples, it might help get to the bottom of it

dampeoples · Mar 21, 2003, 03:40 PM

Are you using iMovie? I've always had my titles look blurry using iMovie, I wish I knew of a fix.

EnVoy · Mar 21, 2003, 05:09 PM

Are you using iMovie? I've always had my titles look blurry using iMovie, I wish I knew of a fix.

What format are you exporting to? If you are using DV, than it will always look like crap until you watch it on something interlaced, like a tv. The DV format only shows you a preview when viewed on a computer. You can turn on the high-quality setting under Movie Properties/Video track/Quality, and this will look better, but still it is a preview. If your destination is only for viewing on a computer, than don't use the DV format.

If you are not using the DV format, than nevermind

dampeoples · Mar 21, 2003, 05:16 PM

I'm watching them on the computer, and usually don't encode the movies if they are for me, somethign to look into though, thanks.

neutrino23 · Mar 23, 2003, 12:35 AM

Originally posted by jaredbkt:
Anyone know how to get good quality with QT video? If you watch a movie trailer at Apple.com it looks amazing. The titles are crisp, the images a rich....it looks beautiful.

However, when I export something to a QT movie, the titles are muddy and the image is not as clear. I have QT Pro. Any ideas for what codec to use? How can I clean it up especially for full screen presentation.

Thanks.

Near as I can tell, you need to spend at least two to four hundred dollards to get pro level processing software and codecs to get the results you see in the movie trailers. The codecs you get for free with QT are simply not as good.

The two products I know of are Sorenson Squeeze and Cleaner. I'm not sure who makes Cleaner now. They have been bought and sold a few times.