Poor Video Quality--I don't understand why.

[amtrakboy]

Hi guys!!

I have here a couple of rejected videos, both of which were shot using a tripod. Yet they still got slammed for "poor video quality." Can anyone explain?

http://www.rail-videos.net/video/rejected.php?id=10004317&key=0
http://www.rail-videos.net/video/rejected.php?id=10004316&key=0

[Jon Wisnieski]

They are both a little low in video quality, the first one you cut off the train too early in the transition.

[Joe the Photog]

Whithout looking at the videos yet, what does using or not usng a tripod have to do with poor video quality? Now that I've seen the videos, Jon was right about the transitions, esp. in the Amtrak video. It's disconcerting. In the second video, we don't need to see the trespassers for thirty seconds. Then there's another odd transition when the UP train appears.

Then there's the matter of the tripod. Yes, you used it. But the camera is still shaky and the zoom out when the UP gets closer is also disconcerting. Plus, in RP's definition, the train is baclit in that the side of the train closest to us is in shadow.

But the videos were rejected due to poor video quality. This monitor isn't the best to judge, but the quality is subpar at best. The lights on the front of the train don't look right. I don't know what kind of camera youi're using, but are you shooting at your highest level? Or are you compressing the video at some point?


Joe

[amtrakboy]

It was a bit warm when I shot this video; hence, I did have to deal with a bit of heat haze--I'm sure that made a bit of difference too. I use a Sony Hi-8 camera at its highest quality setting, with minimal compression, then capturing the video to my computer using Pinnacle software.

[Ian MacMillan]

To me they both look like they were filmed with a 3x softening filter or that they were filmed while playing on a TV screen. The context is good, but yes the quality could be better.

Are your other posted videos that got accepted from the same camera?

[amtrakboy]

The others were all from the same camera, except for those shot prior to 2004.

[Ian MacMillan]

Checked out the 2nd one today. Dont confuse a rejection for "Bad Quality" than one for "Bad Resolution". While Hi-8 doesn't produce the best video for web, there is alot of camera shake even though you used a tripod (the camera and tripod could be too light, try adding a counter weight to the center hook.)

Also the zoom is jerky, and there is a section where it is focused on the freight cars, where interesting in some situations, your at a bad angle and you don't really get much detail.

[Eric Karr]

They are both a little low in video quality, the first one you cut off the train too early in the transition.

Yes, I have to agree. The heat didn't help you.