Hello

I have just edited a short film with Premiere Pro 1.5 with Cineform Aspect intermediat codec. All was going well but I have noticed how bad the blacks are. (by accident mostly - when my monitor was set too bright I could see so much artifacts/blocks in the blacks, especially when colour corrected)

This is livable with, BUT when I add a cross fade (fade) to black or fade up from black, you can see the image pixelating as it happens in a weird pattern across flat colours. It just shows up as bad quality compressing.

Is this a known problem for Cineform Aspect HDV? Could it be my original HDV quality from the tape?

I am considering capturing the beginning and ending of the film again but use Premiere Pro CS3 and keep it as HDV to see if I can imporove the quality of my fade ins and outs for the film.

Any thoughts?

Thanks guys

James

Migth be better aimed at the techy guys at Cineform in their own forum. You can find it from the Cineform web sote or PM me.

Might just be a bit depth issue though. POssibly try oipening it in After Effects and up the bit depth of the project and then do your fade.

never noticexd this with Ascpect HD myself though.

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I'm not young enough to know everything!

Are you previewing on an ordinary tft dispaly - if so then it isnt the cineform codec but hte monitors that are to blame.

I monitor on a crt cos unless you have a very expensive tft specifically optimised for editing the blacks get mashed. Most tfts are unable to display the last few near blacks as anything but 100% black.

Also dont forget that a pc monitor of any description will give you a very clinical output - tvs use all sorts of tricks to create a better picture and most of the artifacts you are complaining of will not be visible on a tv.

Personally I am not a fan of cineform codecs, but my expirience is limited to thier SD DV codec where i find it produces a rther noisey contrasty look i dont like. I use the panasonic codec as it is very clean, and much faster.

hey guys, thanks for info so far!

I have realised that even in Premiere Pro CS3, editing native HDV, fades to/from black are quite bad and create stepped patters across flat colours as the fade occurs. I am using a tft lcd monitor yes - BUT I do not see this problem at all when editing DV footage. The fades are fine. It is only on HDV. Can it be my FX1 footage is just that bad in the blacks?

I have exported the Cineform footage to Microsoft uncompressed AVI to import to After Effects (AE wont recognise the cineform) and have done some fades in After effects on the footage and in AE itself, the fades look ok (not perfect but better than in premiere). When I bring the AE footage into Premiere, the fades looks just as bad. The fades do export badly from premiere, its not just a premiere display issue.

I have tried to up the bit depth to maximum but it doesnt make a difference. I am thinking, never shoot a movie in HDV again! think that must be the solution!!

James