what is the macbook pro's playback magic?

steve waschka · September 12, 2014

I still shoot standard def. But I constantly strive to make it look as current as possible. Just as soon as I think I have all the kinks worked out I see an issue. But I never see this stuff on my macbook unless its really bad. Case in point... I was reviewing some footage I shot this evening. My main camera is an SDX-900 and I record direct from the SDI to a hyperdeck shuttle at 30p. I was playing back footage using the hdmi out straight to an lcd tv from the shuttle and there it was. The stepped look of standard def on some highlight edges. I know Ive never seen that on the Macbook which is how I normally review the footage. So popped the drive into an adapter and played on the macbook. No stepped edge. I use quicktime pro 7. And I dont see anything I can turn off to better scrutinize the footage. Is it just a cheap TV? I mean it is a cheap TV. Ill have to check the file on my projection system. See if it shows the stepping on that footage. But does anyone know if the macbook has a built in line doubler, interpolator, etc. Dvds look awesome on it as well. I feel like apple stuck something in there to give them an edge.

George Ebersole · September 13, 2014

A few years back I was doing sound for live stage auditions for a hand held shoot using a Panasonic AG-AC130 (or a camera in the same family), and the playback on the DPs Powermac almost looked like film footage shot at a high shutter speed. There were no artifact of anykind other than the dirty lens (which I swear to this day I cleaned several times over before we shot). There was no raster, no ghosting, no stepped edges that I can recall. On a regular NTSC monitor it looked like a TV image.

Can you post a link of the footage you shot?

George Ebersole · October 23, 2014

Steve, I thought you posted a link here in your PM to me.

Rakesh Malik · October 23, 2014

What you're seeing sounds like anti-aliasing. It's a common computer graphics trick that smooths out jaggies in graphics, and it's very common in almost every modern computing device out there nowadays. It's computationally expensive, so it was rare 20 years ago, but with modern graphic hardware, it's pretty trivial to simply turn anti-aliasing on for HD or smaller footage.

steve waschka · October 24, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97274089@N05/15613795955/in/set-72157634142673033

Edited October 24, 2014 by steve waschka

steve waschka · October 24, 2014

sorry... the adding a photo link is not intuitive to me here. the previous post is from the bvw-d600ws run thru the teranex. this is the sdx-900:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97274089@N05/14993643013/in/set-72157634142673033/

The noticeable viewing issue is the texture in the chair and the furniture light. The texture in the chair will get a moire effect on some lcd tvs. not on the macbook or projected. The furniture light will get harsh edge stepping on the macbook but not projected. Seems to be playback graphic processing issue.

Tyler Purcell · October 25, 2014

Yep, its just anti-alising. My video projector does the same thing, smoothens out SD pretty good honestly. Even my laserdisc collection doesn't look bad! LOL :)