Video pixelated after grading and exporting

[Casper0101]

Hi people,

I filmed a shot on the Sony A7iii in 50fps for a music video, in cine4 and edited/graded it in premiere. It came out looking extremely pixelated, and I can't really see why. My export settings are set at 'H.264, match source, high bitrate'. With the 'maximum render quality' and 'maximum render depth' boxes checked (I can't look up the exact name for the boxes, but you guys probablt know what I mean). So here is a screenshot from the footage directly from the camera, and one after exporting. Please help! I need to give this to a client soon. Thanks a lot.

[Sami Succar]

It looks like you punched the blacks way too low, but that alone wouldn't affect the quality as much.

Can you share a screenshot of your export settings, your color correction effect, anything that might help us figure out your problem?

[Casper0101]

Yes thank you. Here are some screenshots from the lumetri grade, sequence settings & export settings

[Sami Succar]

Ok, it all seems good. Try a couple of things.

Instead of pushing the contrast to such a high value, adjust it using the curves, it usually gives a cleaner result than pulling the contrast all the way.

Try a small export without ticking the "Use Maximum Render Quality" and see if it makes any difference.