How to get high quality text/titles in DV render?

R0cky wrote on 2/3/2010, 8:38 PM
I have a short film for a local film festival where they insist on the entries being on miniDV tape. I shot in HDV and now have to deliver it in DV.

I need to use some text subtitles and when I previewed what was my "final" on tape there was terrible artifact around the text. How do I need to set font size, style, color (pure white/black now) to minimize the aritfacts? I assume this is caused by the color subsampling?

thanks team,
Rocky

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 2/3/2010, 8:43 PM
You are correct. It is unfortunate that they are limiting you in this way. Your only hope is to keep the titles in lower contrast, animate or soften the edges, and do not use solid bright colors, but blends and patterns. No way to beat the inferior color subsampling while using sharp, high contrast titles.
JackW wrote on 2/3/2010, 9:00 PM
Use sans serif fonts: Ariel is better than Times New Roman for example. Keep the font size fairly large, too. I try not to go below 36pt if I can get away with text that large. A very slim shadow in a low-contrast color, with no feathering helps sharpen text too.

Jack
Coursedesign wrote on 2/3/2010, 9:11 PM
Dropshadows really help in this case.
John_Cline wrote on 2/3/2010, 9:14 PM
This is an artifact of 4:1:1 color sampling. Add just a touch of noise to the background.
Rory Cooper wrote on 2/3/2010, 9:57 PM
Type face keep simple and kerning ,increase the negative space between type can also help read the positive space . I would also avoid using all caps. Lowercase is easier to read

There is a pica.point size ratio to pixel chart also with distance from screen and color band available to assist you when using type for digital media .I have it in print……somewhere. But I am sure it will also be on the net.
rmack350 wrote on 2/3/2010, 10:45 PM
The fact that it's 4:1:1 ought to be a big hint. Luminance is recorded for every pixel, color values recorded every fourth pixel. When the image is decompressed the non sampled color values are calculated. You get an average for color but luminance changes should be picked up for every sample.

Try out a few title variations, all at the same time. Try Red, Green, Blue, White, Black. Play with adding a contrasting border effect and/or drop shadow. I find white (235) text with a black (16) border to be very readable. Maybe not pretty, but readable.

Try some prerenders to DV and also try to get some looks at the tests on an interlaced TV. Bigger text is easier to read and will probably be less work for your audience. More work for you, though.

Rob Mack
richard-amirault wrote on 2/4/2010, 4:43 AM
I may be completely off base here ... I don't shoot or edit in High Def ... and I may not even fully understand the "text" problem here .. but ...

What if you fully edit your HD project but without the lower thirds. Render it out to a uncompressed SD file.

Then import *that* file and add your lower thirds.