RED Rushes vs. Quicktime Quality

[Tony Lorentzen]

Here's an example of a Quicktime proxy file to the left and a ProResHQ export from RED Rushes (DebayerQ: Half Res (high)). There's a significant difference in quality... can someone explain to me why? RED Rushes was set to resize (stretch) to 1920x1080 and export to ProRes422 HQ but to me it looks a lot worse than the quicktime version.

On a side note... Why doesn't RED Rushes use more than approx 25% CPU on my 8-core Mac? Cores per clip is set to one - should I set it to 4 cores per clip and run two clips at once?

 

[Rob Gardner]

I have noticed the Prores transfers are flatter and sometimes a little green. All correctable, but disappointing, particularly when showing the clients new footage.

Anybody else have this problem?
Rob Gardner

 

[Michael Cioni]

Hello Tony-
Don't know if you got a chance to review this post, but some answers (or perhaps more questions) can be found in this post.
michael

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25332&highlight=plastercity&page=3

 

[Tony Lorentzen]

Thanks Michael - very appreciated! That thread was a great read - and did clear up some of my questions. I'd still like a few hints as to why Quicktime renders the R3Ds in such a different way than RED Rushes. I do see some effects of sharpening (like edge ringing) in the images coming from the Quicktime plugin. I should also note that there's no RSX file present in the folder - so I haven't changed any default settings by grading the image in RED Alert or RED Cine. It would be great with more settings in the REDCODE preferences.

EDIT: Something else... I just realized that REDUser resized my image (!) which means that you don't see exacly how much sharper the Quicktime version is than the ProResHQ version. It's significant. I'll post a 1:1 close-up.

 

[Deanan]

Thanks Michael - very appreciated! That thread was a great read - and did clear up some of my questions. I'd still like a few hints as to why Quicktime renders the R3Ds in such a different way than RED Rushes. I do see some effects of sharpening (like edge ringing) in the images coming from the Quicktime plugin. I should also note that there's no RSX file present in the folder - so I haven't changed any default settings by grading the image in RED Alert or RED Cine. It would be great with more settings in the REDCODE preferences.

EDIT: Something else... I just realized that REDUser resized my image (!) which means that you don't see exacly how much sharper the Quicktime version is than the ProResHQ version. It's significant. I'll post a 1:1 close-up.

The QT REDcode codec has a setting in system preferences that lets you choose half high or half standard. Half standard appear a big sharper but it's more aliasy and is a false sharpness from aliasing. (NOTE: The FCS redcode installer doesn't have the system prefs panel so first install the stand alone QT component and then the FCS package.)

The QT REDcode codec also only works with the rec709 space so will look different if redrushes is rendering in something other than rec709.