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Fabio22557433ezjg
Known Participant
September 8, 2023
Question

Punched-in footage on 2160p timeline exports blurry to 1080p

  • September 8, 2023
  • 11 replies
  • 2385 views
  • Issue - When on a 3840x2160 timeline and exporting to a 1920x1080, punched-in footage loses resolution. Resolution is fine while working in Premiere.
  • Adobe Premiere Pro version number: 23.6.0 (Build 65)
  • Operating system - Mac OS Ventura 13.5.2
  • System Info: CPU, GPU, RAM, HD:

    • CPU M1 Max

    • GPU M1 Max

    • RAM 32 GB

    • Internal SSD

  • Video format: Using A7s II 3840x2160 mp4 footage, but tested also with any 4K footage.
  • Steps to reproduce:
    • Open a brand new project
    • Import a 3840x2160 clip
    • Drop it onto the "New Composition" button, a new clip with the same footage settings is created
    • Zoom clip into composition to 200%: basically a 1920x1080 crop remains framed, in the preview window it is still reasonably sharp
    • Check that "use maximum render quality" is checked everywhere, both on the comp setting and in render.
    • Try to export the clip (h264 or ProRes): if exporting to 1920x1080, the export preview gets instantly blurrier, while selecting 3840x2160 comes back sharp.
  • Expected result - I would expect to at least retain all my 1920x1080 pixels with negligible sharpness loss due to upscaling in 2160 composition and downscaling to 1080 for export. See attached screenshot on how the loss is NOT negligible.
  • Actual result -  Attached two screenshot of 2160 and 1080 export. Look at the YAMAHA text or any diagonal line to see the stark difference. Remember that the framed part in the composition is still a 1080 crop, so the added detail in the 2160 export doesn't come from more pixels in the source comp.
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Warren Heaton
Community Expert
Warren HeatonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 8, 2023

Change the frame size of the 3840-by-2160 Sequence to 1920-by-1080 and then set the Scale of each clip to between 50% to 100%.  50% will fill the frame and anything above 50% will push-in without a loss in quality.

You can right-click clips and choose "Set to Frame Size" to quickly set 2160 clips to 50%.

If you must work in a 3840-by-2160 Sequence, pushing in to 105% to 110% should look fine depending on the source footage.  For example, ProRes RAW should push-in to 108% really well while H264 or H265 may not.  To scale above 110%, right-click and replace the clip with an After Effects Composition and then apply Detail-preserving Upscale to push-in between 110% and 200%.  To go above 200%, use Topaz Labs Video Enhance AI.


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