Ford "Right Here Right Now - Trucks"

[tammo]

I also have been suffering from slightly washed out MOV's using Sorenson 3, and more particularly H.264, codecs.

I found this fix which works for me on the PC:

"SOLUTION: After rendering into a QuickTime/h.264 file, open it up in QuickTime Pro and select “Show Movie Properties.”
Highlight the video track then click on the “Visual Settings” tab.
Towards the bottom left you should see “Transparency” with a drop-down box next to it.
Select “Blend” from the menu then move the “Transparency Level” slider to 100%.
Choose “Straight Alpha” from the same drop-down and close the properties window and finally “Save.”

This will fix your video files upon the save step."

[richard_rosenman]

Hi Tammo;

The problem with that one (and it is a popular fix), is that it doesn't work for many people, including us. Must be a system or software thing but we've tried it with no success as have numerous people who've posted that on the web as well.

We've tried the patch that was released by another studio and that didn't work either.

We've tried converting first to motion jpeg 2000 and from there to h264 and although that retains the proper color, it takes too much time (and quality hit) to go through two compressions.

We've tried outputting first to AVI then to h264 Quicktime which retains color a bit better than outputting first to QT and then to h264, but they still change.

We've tried outputting from other sources to h264 (AE, Combustion, etc) and same result.

We've tried outputting from Sorenson Squeeze using the Apple h264 codec and same result.

I've personally tried a bunch more methods than this as well and none are a sure-fire solution. It would be great if there actually was a solution that worked 100% of the time on any system but I have yet to find one. It's no like this is rocket science - to convert a movie to a compressed one and retain fairly accurate color... The reason to use QT over other apps is because the 2-pass h264 compressor is actually quite good - in my tests, better than most other 3rd party compressors. But at the end of the day, having the color get this messed up, makes Apple QT completely useless to me and our studio.

99% of all the Quicktimes on my personal site are washed out and not accurate to what the final picture actually looks like, as I'm sure is a lot of the Quicktime content floating around the internet.

-Rich

[walee]

nice one richard, good job as usual

[werticus]

Four of the UGLIEST vehicles I have ever seen. People buy that shit?

Nice work on the advert though!

[batu]

Rich,

Thanks for the reply
We also like everyone else deal the gamma issue with quicktime.

This is probably as novice as it gets but I will ask anyway.
The issue I have been having a hard time understanding is do you need motion blur in your animation for smooth playback of your video files?

Alot of what we have been trying to encode to is flash or Quicktime H264. They play back with a stutter "Like a frame jump or slight pause" this randomly seems to appear during playback. I am not sure what is causing it. Other than maybe it is because we are not using motion blur. Just a guess.

I have tried changing the rate of key framing and the size of the bit rate but these do not seem to fix it. I started thinking maybe it could be a constant bit rate vs a variable bit rate issue.

Anyway any advice you or anyone else could give me. To point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

[richard_rosenman]

Hi batu;

I'd have to take a look at it and even then, I'm not sure I'd know exactly what it is. However, I can do that if you PM me.

We ALWAYS use motion blur for all our animation with the exception of the odd time where we have the slowest possible animation. However, rendering with or without motion blur does not, of course, affect Quicktime playback.

I've seen Quicktime (and other movies) stutter when the bitrate has been set too high and the computer cannot keep up with the realtime decompression. What is the resolution of your movie and what is your bitrate? I think Apple used to use about 1200kbs for SD movies and this is what I tend to use for my 640x480. Your bitrate should increase as you increase resolution. I think YouTube uses 2000kbs for 720p HD.

Have you tested the stuttering movie on a decent computer? It can stutter on a notebook but could play well on another. Also, the keyframe placement might be the culprit as well.

With regards to my compression settings, I use:

- Automatic keyframe placement
- 2-pass h264 compression method
- constant bitrate
- streaming blocks for web streaming delivery

I use Sorenson Video 3 when there's any doubt that the user will not have an h264 compatible version of Quicktime, as it too compresses well.

-Rich

[Robert P]

I had the same problem with the 'washed out' colors with quicktime. Today i found a solution that works for me. Here are the steps:

- Output a quicktime movie with compression set to animation and the quality set to 100% from whatever program you are using
- open this movie with quicktime pro and export a animation with the H.264 codec
-open this movie with quictime pro and take the steps proposed by gammo a few posts back.

the result is, at least on my computer, exactly the same as my original footage.

Hope this helps!