Aaaaarrrggghhhh!!!! I am so frustrated - please help

Can anybody give me some expert advice? I am only new here and have been uploading for a few months with no sale at all. I noticed the other day that if you click on the thumbnail your footage shows at a zoomed size. On doing this my clips looked terrible so I am guessing that’s why no sale. I contacted pond5 and was told they only put a low resolution clip to start with but eventually they will be ok. They are still no better and I have now even noticed when I have outputted my recent clips and viewed them at 100% with QuickTime player they still looked blocky with big square pixels. I am at a loss and don’t quite know what to do to put this right. Here are some specs to see if you can see what the problem is – sorry its so long winded.

Hd footage filmed on Sony HDR-CX115E
High Definition – AVCHD (1920 X 1080)
MOVIE QUALITY – hd;fx 1920 X 1080i, 24 Mbps

Premiere Pro CS4

New sequence setting

AVCHD 1080i 25 (50i)
Preset description - For editing AVCHD Formats recorded in 1920x1080 square pixels (non-anamorphic).
16:9 interlaced HD video at 25 frames per second.
48kHz audio.

General
Editing mode: AVCHD 1080i square pixel
Time base: 25.00fps

Video Settings
Frame size: 1920h 1080v (1.0000)
Frame rate: 25.00 frames/second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)
Fields: Upper Field First

In project window it reads file name with m2ts file extension – right click on file it reads :- File Path: G:\CAMCORDER\14-08-2010\20100814112632.m2ts
Type: MPEG Movie
File Size: 129.9 MB
Image Size: 1920 x 1080
Pixel Depth: 32
Frame Rate: 25.00
Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - compressed - Stereo
Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Stereo
Total Duration: 00:00:48:22
Average Data Rate: 2.7 MB / second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0

File – export – media then media encoder opens up

Export settings are:- format – QuickTime
Video codec:- Photo-JPEG (codec setting:- optimize for streaming unchecked)
Quality_ 95
Width 1920
Height – 1080
Frame rate:- 25
Field type:- upper first
Aspect:- square pixels 1.0
render at maximum depth – unchecked
codec settings 24bit

You are taking an interlaced file and turning it into a progressive file - doesn't work real well unless you run the m2t files through something like neoscene from cineform. That product will convert interlaced into progressive if you so wish. However, I would recommend leaving interlaced as is and exporting to mjpegB, not photo-jpeg. Photo j-peg is for progressive only. The "upper first" is totally ignored. I checked one of your files:



and yes, when looking at the large still - it shows pix-elation and artifacts. This is due to the conversion from interlaced to progressive. Adobe Premier Pro can't handle that very well as you can see. You could convert to progressive in AE but that is a lot of work for very little return. Leave files in interlaced mode and you will be fine. Hope that helps. :)

thank you so much for your speedy reply - will try your method - fingers crossed! - Jen x

I was only able to reply so effectively because you did a wonderful job of providing all the necessary information! :)

Indeed! Vadervideo is right on, and thanks for providing all that info naturalbydesign; it's difficult when people having problems say something like "my stuff looks wierd, what do I do???"

LOL - and here's me thinking oh dear - nobody will want to read all that text. I was cringing when I clicked submit - I imagined someone reading the first two lines and then thinking - I haven't got time for all that - LOL. If that is your photo Mike then how funny how two bearded men come to my rescue - thanks anyway - Jen x

So sorry Vader - just had a close up view of you - you don't have a beard - LOL, just a nice big tash, I do apologise!! - Jen x

According to your first message, the output is interlaced too and it is PAL(upper filed first) and it looks correct. I think the only problem is that interlaced footage looks "bad" on a computer monitor without being really bad. Your workflow looks ok to me and I think you should not make any change. As for "no sales yet" the only problem is that you have only 57 clips online competing with over 400000. Wish you good luck!
Christian.

Anyone have an idea how long it takes for the original version of the demo video to be "upgraded" to the better version?

@ionescu - nope - turns out the camera shoots progressive (H.264 AVCHD) - hence, it was set in interlaced mode on render - simple fix.
@time-lapse - I have seen it take up to two weeks. The process does it in several passes. The first being to simply get it online as fast as possible. Of course, if you time lapse it, it will seem or "feel" quicker. :)