As I was running into issues with direct AE export to XPV2 AVI, I exported MOV (GoProCineform) and then used XPN Video Coder to convert to XPV2 AVI.
Here's one more I noticed:
8 Bit Depth produced blocky regions where solid color should be, as well as pixel grain around areas of text animation:
Whereas 10 Bit Depth produces a much cleaner render:
as such-should I always be using 10 bit depth whenever converting videos using Video Coder? The loss in quality is rather significant at 8 bit depth for just a solid color and text animation.
If any of the files are still processing, they should still be able to be downloaded for proper viewing. Thanks!
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Koji Kameda
Broadcast Director
Bento GG LLC
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-28-2022 17:01
From: Sven Whitesell
Subject: XPV2 - quality loss when converting video files
I have reproduced the banding that you are seeing, but only when rendering the "Main Screen_MOV_anim.mov" file. The "Main Screen_GoPro Cineform.mov" has has no issues rendering into XPVC2. The new render I made straight from the 'Render Queue' looks the same as the one you linked. There are some differences in the underlying codec wrappers between those two files, which I believe to be the cause of this.
Can you please send me a copy of the original After Effects scene used to do the renders? I would like to export the scene as untouched as possible to eliminate the issue of the difference in codec wrappers from the two files I have been testing.
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Sven Whitesell
Product Specialist
Ross Video
Original Message:
Sent: 07-27-2022 15:25
From: Koji Kameda
Subject: XPV2 - quality loss when converting video files
I am using v10.5 5508, using the default xpv2 codec settings (same as your screenshot).
Exporting from 1080p59.94 to 1080p59.94. AE Composition is also 1080p59.94.
Here is a link with:
- XPV2 AVI with default codec settings
- QuickTime MOV animation
- GoPro Cineform MOV
All of these were directly exported from AE via Render Queue.
Screenshots:
No bands, no pixelation on QuickTime MOV animation:
Same case with GP Cineform MOV:
Horizontal bands, pixelation, slight desaturation on XPV2 AVI at default codec settings:
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Koji Kameda
Broadcast Director
Bento GG LLC
Original Message:
Sent: 07-27-2022 10:42
From: Garner Millward
Subject: XPV2 - quality loss when converting video files
What build of XPression 10.5 are you running?
What are the settings you are using for the XPression Video Codec 2?
What resolutions are you exporting from/to?
Can you provide a sample MOV that gives you a bad result when converted using the XPression Video Coder?
Rapid gradients in red/green can sometimes lead to banding in the XPression Codec AVI files. Resolvable by exporting at higher quantization levels, (ex 90 instead of 80) but otherwise what you describe is not expected behavior with the codec. One note about using higher quantization levels - this will hugely increase the size of the XPCV2 AVI files that are created - so ideally only content that requires higher quality (like some gradients) should be converted at the higher quality level. File size does not affect XPression playback at all (only the bitrate does), but larger files will affect how much storage is used on your XPression engines and workflow tools.
Original Message:
Sent: 07-26-2022 20:12
From: Koji Kameda
Subject: XPV2 - quality loss when converting video files
Currently using XPression 10.5, XPV2, Video Coder 10.5.
When exporting videos to AVI XPV2 either directly from AE, via Media Encoder, or by exporting MOV/H264 and then using XPN Video Coder, my videos lose a significant amount of quality - banding and pixelation where solid colors should be, noise around text effects, etc. The non XPV2 AVI renders look just fine, as well as my AE project file.
Is there a best practice for exporting from AE that I'm missing or is this just a codec limitation?
Cheers.
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Koji Kameda
Broadcast Director
Bento GG LLC
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