Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hello all,
I'm very new to premiere pro, and learning a lot! Recently I did some scuba diving and shot some footage of the reef with an older GoPro Hero 4. The GoPro was set to protune 2.7K 120 fps. But, I have run into a problem: some segments of the footage become grainy and lose quality for short periods of time throughout the exported video (this is especially apparent when a large ammount of fish make very quick movements). The raw footage does not have this quality problem at all, it is crystal clear. My export settings are H.264, Match Source - High bitrate. I was told to set the frame rate higher when filming underwater to catch the darting of fish, but this seems to be adding to the problem for me. Also, as with all underwater footage, I had to do some intense color correction to get color back into the film, which is perhaps also adding to this. (Most of the problems seem to happen with parts of the footage that are heavily color corrected)
Not sure if it is as obvious here with these poor-quality screen-shots, but:
Here, the school of fish is in focus, clear and crisp:
As I approach the school and the fish start darting out of the way, the footage immediately becomes blotchy and grainy, and looses sharpness and focus:
As soon as the fish school leaves me and the fast movement decreases, instantly the footage regains it's clarity and sharpness:
Only when the fish are moving (or in similar scenerios) does this seem to happen.
I've tried producing the video in different formats, including HEVC, and also different Presets, such as Youtube 1080 Full Hd, as well as Youtube 2160 4k. There were some differences, but nothing that came close to fully fixing the problem.
What am I doing wrong, and in the future is there anything I could have done to keep this problem from occuring again? I'm sorry if this is covered elsewhere on this forum, I did a bunch of searching and came up with nothing that fully answered my questions.
Thanks so much!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
First, that 10Mpbs setting is way too low for footage like this. I'd not go below 25 or so, personally, with any sudden movement.
Next ... you have such blocks of color there, that is also something that can trigger blocks/artifacting in long-GOP compression schemas, and of course is also exacerbated by low bitrates.
So get the Mbps up, try that. Another thing is Hardware encoding can be faster, but Software encoding of H.264 encodes is nearly always better quality. And finally, some users export out of PrPro in say ProRes 422, then take that into ShutterEncoder, HandBrake, of ffmpeg, and create their H.264 deliverables in those apps because they have far more granular options for encoding long-GOP formats.
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hello Neil,
Thanks so much! I appreciate the tips. I'll go and try getting the Mbps up, as well as possibly redoing the project after trying to export the original footage from those aformentioned programs, and respond with my results.
Thanks,
James
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Okay so I bumped the bitrate up to 60, and that seems to have completely fixed the problem. Thanks so much for enlightening me!
thanks,
James
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Just glad you're all better now!
Neil